Virginia State Police are investigating the cause of a fatal crash that occurred Thursday morning (Sept. 5, 2013) on Interstate 81 in Rockingham County. At 6:34 a.m., state police was called to the scene of the two-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of I-81 at the 245 mile marker.
An SUV was southbound on I-81 when it ran off the right side of the road into the median, struck the guardrail and continued into the northbound lanes where it collided with a northbound tractor-trailer. Both vehicles came to rest in the median.
Moments later, two other tractor-trailers in the northbound lanes collided while trying to avoid the first crash.
The driver of the Nissan, Maria B. Simonov-Romero, 20, of Harrisonburg, Va. died at the scene.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Eric VonEisenhuth, 42, of Tennessee, was not injured in the crash.
The scene was cleared and northbound lanes were re-opened by 11:48 a.m. Thursday.