Two people have died and at least one other person was hurt in a crash on Interstate 270 in Montgomery County, Maryland, early Friday, authorities say. Some lanes of the major roadway were closed.
The crash occurred on northbound I-270 between Falls Road and Route 28 before 4:45 a.m. Three vehicles were involved.
According to Maryland State Police, a BMW was travelling in the northbound lanes on I-270 when that car hit a Toyota SUV. The BMW continued driving, but the SUV was disabled by the crash and stopped in the middle of the road.
At that point, a pickup truck also traveling in the northbound lanes ran into the SUV, causing the SUV to explode and spinning it around into the wall along the interstate.
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Images of the crash showed burned, horrifically mangled wreckage.
Esperanza Del Carmen Vasquez De Bran, the 50-year-old driver of the SUV and the mother of one of the passengers in the car, was able to get out of their car after it caught fire and was rushed to a hospital, Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service spokesman Pete Piringer said.
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Two other people were trapped in a car. Those two people were Luis Isaac Bran, who police believe was the driver's 17-year-old son, and Rebeca Gabriela Vasquez Moreno, who police believe was the driver's 18-year-old niece. Maryland State Police say Luis was in the front passenger seat and Rebeca was in the back of the car.
Rebeca, who had just arrived from El Salvador for a visit, sent a message to her sister back home saying she was in a crash and in a lot of pain.
She and Luis did not survive the crash.
“Friendly, smart, loving — a great son,” Luis’ father told Telemundo 44. “Very, very good. There aren’t the words to describe how good he was. Very mindful; helpful at church. It’s hard.”
Luis had just graduated from Watkins Mill High School last week and was planning to study business at Montgomery College.
The mother and son had just picked up their relative from the airport.
The driver of the pickup truck was also injured in the crash, police said, but refused medical care at the scene.
The BMW was found half a mile up I-270 from the scene of the crash. The car appeared to be abandoned, and the driver left the scene, police said.
“Part of this investigation is to find out how was the BMW driver driving to, first of all, to get involved in this crash and then to abandon the vehicle a half a mile from the crash site,” said Elena Russo of Maryland State Police.
“If anybody saw what happened, please reach out,” Luis’ father said. “We need to know what happened.”
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Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
