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Crash Leaves One Dead in Schuylkill County

WAYNE TOWNSHIP — A deadly crash had a road in Schuylkill County shut down for most of the day Monday. State police were at the crash site near Cressona fo...

WAYNE TOWNSHIP -- A deadly crash had a road in Schuylkill County shut down for most of the day Monday.

State police were at the crash site near Cressona for hours trying to determine what happened.

Route 183 just outside of Cressona was a sea of emergency lights as rescue crews were on the scene of a deadly two-vehicle crash.

It happened around 2:30 p.m., shutting down a long portion of the road, forcing drivers to take a detour around the area.

“I live in Lake Wynonah, and they detoured me,” said Scott Koerbler. “I didn't know what was going on, wow, fatal.”

State police and the Schuylkill County Coroner's Office were on scene for hours and had Route 183 shut down for most of the day.

Now, investigators say Stephen Batdorf, 58, of Jonestown, was killed after his Ford E250 van was hit head-on by Debra Young, 61, of Pottsville.

Police say Young’s Chevy Suburban crossed into Batdorf's lane when they were passing each other on a curve on Route 183.

Investigators confirm one of the vehicles burst into flames after the collision.

Michael Bright works at Moyer's Car Care Center. He says state police had him send two wreckers to the scene in case they needed to cut through the damaged vehicles. Bright says where the crash happened is a tricky spot.

“The one person, they came out. It's a very blind corner,” said Bright. “And (on Route) 183, they're doing 50, 55 miles an hour. When I mean blind, from here to that wall over there, it was that close. They didn't have a chance. And it was two larger vehicles, SUV's, and one burst into flames.”

Others say they don't feel it's a particularly dangerous stretch of road.

“I'm here a year. I don't see it to be a problem, you know?” said Koerbler. “The only thing, when you come down that hill, you're flying, but where that accident I believe is, they should have been slowed down by then, you know?”

State police say Young was flown to Reading Hospital with serious injuries. They said she was not wearing a seatbelt. They said Batdorf was wearing his.

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