2 die in Texas crash, man jumps from overpass to avoid truck

Two women were killed after a tractor-trailer smashed into several vehicles that had stopped on a Houston freeway early Friday because of previous collisions, authorities said.

Two young children were injured, as was a man who jumped off the freeway overpass to avoid the oncoming truck, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said.

The multiple crashes happened about 1:30 a.m. Friday on Houston’s North Freeway. According to the sheriff’s office, an SUV carrying a man, a woman and their children, ages 1 and 3, pulled over after the vehicle got a flat tire. Another car then crashed into the stopped SUV, and a woman from each vehicle stood outside on the freeway, the sheriff’s office said.

A pickup truck then swerved to avoid the vehicles and a crashed into a wall, and a man from a fourth vehicle pulled over to help. Then, an Amazon tractor-trailer crashed into all of the vehicles, and also struck the two women, killing them, the sheriff’s office said.

The man from the fourth vehicle jumped about 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 metres) from the overpass to avoid the truck. The sheriff’s office said he was expected to survive.

The sheriff’s office said roads were slick at the time of the crashes because of light rain.