< Back to front page Text size – +

Two teens killed in Route 1 rollover in Revere

E-mail|Link|Comments () August 6, 2009 04:34 PM

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

The wreckage came to rest against a guardrail.

By Jack Nicas, Globe Correspondent

Two teenagers were killed and three others were injured today in a crash this morning on Route 1 in Revere, authorities said.

A 2000 Mitsubishi Montero carrying five people rolled over at 11:17 a.m. on the Route 1 elevated roadway above the Route 60 rotary, according to Trooper Thomas Murphy, a State Police spokesman. The three survivors were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Northbound lanes were closed for more than two hours, but police opened one lane by midafternoon, leaving one lane closed for investigation of the crash.

“The investigation is ongoing and fluid at this point,” said Dave Procopio, State Police spokesman, in an e-mail.

The car struck a guardrail on the right side of the road, then rolled over, stopping on the left shoulder, Murphy said.

Killed were a 16-year-old girl from Hull and a 17-year-old boy from Ipswich, who were sitting in the back left and back center seats, respectively. The boy was the only passenger not wearing a seat belt. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Three others, the 19-year-old driver from Weymouth, a 17-year-old from Weymouth, and a 17-year-old from New Hampshire suffered serious injuries, Murphy said.

"Considering the traffic in the area, we're lucky there weren't more fatalities," Murphy said, while briefing reporters in a movie theater parking lot along Route 1 near the crash.

It was the second fatal crash in the Boston area within an eight-hour period. Christopher L. Leavitts, 26, of Woburn, was killed about 3:02 a.m. today when his car veered to the right, struck the guardrail in the breakdown lane, and then rolled over on Interstate 93 North in Somerville.

Leavitts was driving a 1992 Toyota Camry that veered to the right, struck the guardrail in the breakdown lane, and rolled over, coming to rest in the two right travel lanes. Leavitts, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene.