MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — UPDATE: A third person has died following the crash.
Original story:
A deadly wreck near Saylorsburg Wednesday morning involved five vehicles and left two people dead. Troopers say the whole thing started when a tractor-trailer crossed the median and went into opposing traffic.
That set off a chain reaction wreck involving another tractor-trailer and two more vehicles.
Debris scattered across the section of Route 33 north in Hamilton Township after the deadly crash that happened around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Lee Kirchner was inside his home near Saylorsburg with his wife when he heard the crash and ran across the highway to try to help.
"I got out and saw the commotion over here. The tractor-trailer with the tires off, and the red car underneath the trailer, and then the poor woman that was in the car that got run over by the tractor-trailer."
The Monroe County coroner confirms that a juvenile female from Wilkes-Barre died at the crash site, and a male from the Reading area died at the hospital.
State police say a tractor-trailer was driving south on Route 33 when the driver crossed over into the northbound lanes, hitting another tractor-trailer and three other vehicles.
"I guarantee you everybody who comes through here does not do 55. It's very hard to even justify what's going on today because somebody was going too fast," said Nicole Serfass, a resident of Hamilton Township.
People say this isn't the first time crashes like this have happened near the Saylorsburg exit.
In 2010, a tractor-trailer crossed over into the northbound lanes of Route 33 in the same spot, hitting and killing Paul Miller of Scranton.
People who have a front-row view of the highway say they want some sort of protection for their safety.
"It would be great to have a bigger embankment or some type of wall to protect us because if it's happening over there, and they're up on the side of the mountain there. It's going to happen on this side too, eventually," Serfass said.
"People need to slow down on (Route) 33. This is not a racetrack. These are people's live that you could put in danger, and something really needs to be done. Even speaking with the state troopers, they said there's no safe place for them to even put a car to try to slow people down. So something needs to be done," Kirchner said.
Route 33 southbound traffic is being detoured. State police expect the northbound lanes to be closed for several hours while they investigate.
Check traffic conditions with the WNEP Traffic Tracker.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.