6 killed in chain-reaction crash in NY work zone

Police say a tractor-trailer driven by James A. Mills Jr. of Myerstown, Pa., struck several vehicles that had slowed or stopped on Route 11. Five died in one SUV. They're identified as 42-year-old Laurie Dana of Lawrence; her daughters, 14-year-old Catelyn and 11-year-old Lauren; 69-year-old Janet Dana; and 14-year-old Shannon Planty.

Police say another driver, 59-year-old Maryann Gregory of Dickinson Center, died at a hospital.

The driver of a state transportation truck, 44-year-old Lewis Lottie Jr., is in critical condition at Upstate Medical Center.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

An SUV burst into flames and six people were killed on a northern New York road Thursday when a tractor-trailer rear-ended a vehicle in a work zone and caused a chain-reaction crash, police said.

Trooper Jack Keller said five of the people killed were riding in the SUV when it was struck. He said the vehicle had stopped or was moving slowly because of road repaving on Route 11 in the Jefferson County town of Antwerp. The tractor-trailer slammed into the back of one vehicle, causing collisions with a state Department of Transportation truck and the SUV.

Keller said the driver of the first vehicle died at a hospital.

Tractor-trailer driver James A. Mills Jr. of Myerstown, Pa., was taken to a hospital for treatment.

The SUV that carried five people was registered in New York, Keller said. Police were attempting to determine if all five victims were from the same family, he said.

The DOT truck driver, 54-year-old Lewis Lottje Jr. of Nicholville, was flown to Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse with head and chest injuries, Keller said. His condition was not available Thursday afternoon.

The crash happened near Fort Drum, 85 miles northeast of Syracuse. The collision occurred along a straight, flat section of the two-lane road, the main east-west highway across four rural northern counties along the Canadian border. There were plenty of signs warning motorists approaching the area that crews were working on the road, Keller said.

"(The tractor-trailer) plowed right into them," he said by telephone from the scene. "We're trying to determine what happened."

Signage on the tractor-trailer indicates it is owned by MBM Customized Foodservice Distribution based in Rocky Mount, N.C. A company spokeswoman didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. Keller said the truck was hauling a full load of yogurt from a plant in North Lawrence in neighboring Franklin County.

DOT spokesman William Reynolds confirmed that a state crew was repaving the road and that one of the agency's employees was injured and airlifted to a hospital in Syracuse.

The federal National Transportation Safety Board was notified but investigators were not going to the crash scene, a spokesman for the agency said.