Two drivers were taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where they were pronounced dead.
View full sizeTraffic sits at a standstill on the Mass Turnpike due to a four-car, head-on collision near Ludlow. Two people were killed in the crash.This is an update of a story first posted at 9:36 p.m.
LUDLOW -- A head-on crash Friday night on the Massachusetts Turnpike involving a car driving the wrong way on the highway has resulted in two deaths, police said.
Two drivers, an 84-year-old man and a 29-year-old man, were pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield following the 8:30 p.m. accident, said trooper Kenneth Gaetz.
Investigators have determined the 84-year-old man was traveling the wrong way in the Westbound lane when he collided head on with the other car. Two other cars were unable to stop and collided with the initial pile up.
The accident happened near Exit 6. Traffic was diverted at Exit 7 for more than two hours as police shut down all westbound travel lanes as they cleared the scene. There were reports of backed up cars sitting at a standstill on the highway.
Names of the deceased were not being released pending notification of their families.
Circumstances behind the accident remain under investigation by state police. The Ludlow Fire Department, Ludlow EMS, and Mass Department of Transportation all assisted at the scene.