Pair of Ky. highway crashes kills 6, injures 5

The two crashes shut down the busy stretch of highway for about five hours. The first happened at 11:13 a.m. EST on northbound I-65 south of Elizabethtown. In the second crash, four vehicles collided at the same location on the southbound side.

Chaffins said in the first crash, a 1999 Ford Expedition was hit from behind and then hit the car in front of it, but the driver of that vehicle had only minor injuries. The Expedition was returning to Wisconsin after a trip to Orlando, Fla.

The Expedition was "totally engulfed in flames. It was totally destroyed by the fire," he said, adding, "It's just a charred mess."

He said one eyewitness told police two people emerged from the blaze and one appeared to be on fire.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was not injured and was cooperating with police, Chaffins said. "He's obviously pretty torn up about everything."

The southbound crash involved a tractor-trailor and three other vehicles. Police were investigating whether rubbernecking was the cause.

"That's what we're suspecting, that people were looking at the crash that happened on the other side and became distracted and caused a chain-reaction crash," he said.

Those injured in the second crash were taken to hospitals but were not identified.