Four people have died after a wrong-way head-on crash and fire that closed part of the Merritt Parkway in Stratford for nearly seven hours on Thursday morning.
State troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash around 1:43 a.m. after a driver in a Honda CRV who was going north in the southbound lane collided with a Chrysler Town & Country minivan and the Honda caught fire, according to police.
The driver of the Chrysler, 55-year-old Steven Rowland, of Easton, and two passengers in the vehicle, 80-year-old Thomas Lucian Vitale, of Easton and 81-year-old Olga Vitale, of Easton, died at the scene, state police said.
State police have not identified the driver of the Honda. They said his identity is pending an autopsy. According to the report on the crash from state police, the Honda had Massachusetts plates.
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A state trooper who was responding to that crash was involved in a separate crash and suffered minor injuries, according to state police.
Both the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 15 were closed and the northbound lanes reopened first. The southbound side of the highway was closed between exits 53 and 52 until around 8:30 a.m.
State police said a passerby had stopped their vehicle in the road to provide aid after the wrong-way crash and the initial reports were that the vehicle was stopped in a lane and the vehicle's lights were not on.
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The trooper sustained minor injuries.
The state has been installing technology in an effort to prevent wrong-way crashes on the state's highways.
In 2022, there were 13 wrong-way crashes that resulted in 23 deaths, according to the state Department of Transportation. In 2023, seven people were killed in wrong-way crashes.
This year, 11 people have been killed in wrong-way crashes.
Anyone who has information about the crash is asked to call Troop G at 203-696-2500.
