One dead, several injured in I-76 crash

PHILADELPHIA One person was killed and several others were severely injured in a chain-reaction crash early Wednesday on the Schuylkill Expressway, police said.

Around 4:30 a.m., a white Audi traveling west hit a large puddle and spun into a concrete median barrier near the exit for Roosevelt Boulevard, said State Police Cpl. Gerard McShea.

Shortly thereafter, a white Chrysler minivan carrying seven people abruptly slowed to avoid hitting the Audi, he said.

The tractor-trailer behind the minivan could not slow down in time, McShea said, and rear-ended the minivan, slamming it into the Audi.

Handy Gunawan, 47, of Philadelphia, who had been seated in the back of the van, was killed, and everyone else in the vehicle was "severely injured," McShea said. The Audi's driver was also injured, he said, and the tractor-trailer's driver was unharmed.

Westbound lanes of I-76 were closed for several hours as police worked to clear the scene. By 9:30 a.m., one lane was getting by, McShea said, as a tow truck attempted to move the tractor-trailer from the highway.

The expressway also was shut down Wednesday east of Montgomery Drive due to flooding, McShea said, but that had nothing to do with the crash.