middleborough

Woman dead in fiery SUV-delivery truck crash in Middleborough

Footage from the scene on Route 28 showed a UPS truck and SUV that had collided head-on and caught fire

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A woman died in a crash with a delivery truck on Massachusetts Route 28 in Middleborough Friday, authorities said.

The crash closed the road, also Wareham Street, between Cushman and Rocky Gutter streets, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

The woman's death in the two-vehicle crash remained under investigation, by state and local police, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.

Cellphone video captured the tragic moments after the Cadillac SUV collided head-on with a UPS truck.

"I just heard a loud thump," said Jennifer Gill. "Like a boom, actually. I looked out the window, I saw the UPS guy standing out there confused, across from me. It was pretty scary."

Surveillance video from a nearby motel shows the UPS truck heading along Route 28 around 1:30 p.m., when the SUV appears to cross the median and into the pathway of the truck.

Witnesses say good Samaritans started tending to the driver of the Cadillac.

"There were about five people around that person," said Jennie Bilunas. "They were administering CPR, they did that for a good 15 minutes until the ambulance got there."

The vehicles caught fire, according to the Middleborough police and fire departments.

"And then it completely blew up," said Bilunas. "And it kept exploding, something in it kept exploding. It kept blowing up, like a big 'Boom, boom, boom.'"

Bilunas had been behind the Cadillac shortly before the crash.

She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, but when she came up upon the scene, she says the Cadillac was in the wrong lane.

"The UPS driver was in his correct lane and the other one hit it head on," said Bilunas.

The driver of the delivery truck was rushed to a hospital. Authorities didn't share that person's condition.

"The UPS driver was sitting there with his hand on his heart, but he looked very stressed, so they called an ambulance for him and took him away," said Bilunas.

No one else was in the vehicles at the time of the crash. Neither driver has been identified.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

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