PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a fatal freeway crash (all times local):
12:50 p.m.
Authorities say five vehicles were involved in a fatal wreck that closed part of northbound Interstate 17 in north-central Arizona before the freeway as partially reopened late Friday morning.
The Department of Public Safety says the vehicles involved in the wreck north of Sunset Point Rest Area were a tractor-trailer rig, two passenger vehicles, a pickup and a box truck.
The DPS had earlier said the preliminary information indicated that a tractor-tractor rig had collided with two pickups.
In addition to one person being killed, two injured people were transported for treatment and three others were checked at the scene for minor injuries but not transported.
DPS spokesman Quentin Mehr says the investigation is ongoing.
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11:55 a.m.
Northbound Interstate 17 has partially reopened in north-central Arizona after a closure late Friday morning due to a fatal wreck involving a tractor-trailer rig and two pickups.
Authorities said one lane reopened just before Bloody Basin Road north of Sunset Point Rest Area but that drivers should expect extended delays in the area because another lane will remain closed into the afternoon for cleanup operations.
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10:35 a.m.
Authorities predict an extended closure of northbound Interstate 17 about 7 miles (11 kilometers) north of the Sunset Point Rest Area in north-central Arizona because of a fatal wreck requiring a cleanup of hazardous material.
Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bar Graves says preliminary reports indicate that a big rig collided late Friday morning with two pickups, killing one person and injuring others.
Graves says the need for hazardous-material cleanup is a result of the big rig leaking fuel onto the highway.
The Arizona Department of Transportation advised drivers to consider delaying travel or using alternative routes to northern Arizona such as taking State Routes 87 and 260 to connect to I-17 at Camp Verde.
ADOT says I-17’s southbound lanes are unaffected.
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