Two people were killed on Wednesday, November 4, when the van they were in left Route 136 in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, crashed into a support of the overpass above the Pennsylvania Turnpike and caught fire, according to the Westmoreland County coroner's office and local reports. Firefighters found both people dead inside the van, and the Pennsylvania State Police are investigating. No cause has been released.
The crash was reported at about 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday by a passing motorist travelling on the Turnpike, the coroner's office said in a news release reported by the Tribune-Review and WHJB. It happened near Turnpike mile marker 70.4, where Route 136 crosses above the Turnpike on an overpass — an elevated stretch of state road on the edge of Hempfield Township, east of Greensburg.
Source: WHJB / Tribune-Review
What the first reports say happened
A Westmoreland County 911 supervisor said the two people were in a vehicle that left Route 136 near the overpass, then crashed into one of the overpass supports along the side of the Turnpike and caught fire, according to the Tribune-Review report. The van came to rest on Turnpike property beside the travel lanes, below the elevated Route 136 roadway — aerial pictures from the scene, including drone footage reported by Pittsburgh stations, showed the burned vehicle below the overpass area rather than on the Turnpike itself.
County dispatch sent fire crews to the Turnpike eastbound near the Route 136 overpass, with the best access from the Turnpike at the bridge and other units staging on Route 136 above the crash site, according to dispatch reports from the scene. Crews coordinated lane closures in the area while the fire was knocked down. Given the intensity of the fire, responders at the scene reported within the first phase of the call that conditions inside the van were not survivable, and the coroner's office later confirmed that firefighters found the two occupants dead.
The investigation so far
Westmoreland County Coroner John Ackerman's office confirmed the vehicle caught fire after the crash and issued the release confirming the two deaths. The Pennsylvania State Police are investigating how and why the van left Route 136. In the reports published on Thursday, state police had released no information on a cause — whether speed, a medical emergency, a mechanical failure or another factor played a role is not known, and nothing in the official releases so far suggests any other vehicle was involved. It was described throughout as a single-vehicle crash.
The two people who died had not been publicly identified in the coroner's release or the state police information reported on Thursday. Identification in a fatal fire normally rests with the coroner's office once next of kin have been notified and, where the fire makes it necessary, forensic confirmation is complete — which is why names in crashes of this kind often come a day or more after the event itself.
Confirmed by the coroner's office and county 911: a van left Route 136 near the Turnpike overpass at about 4:50 p.m. on November 4, struck an overpass support, caught fire, and both occupants died. Not yet released: the victims' names, the direction of travel in full detail, and any cause for the van leaving the road.
A corridor our readers drive
The Pennsylvania Turnpike at this point — Interstate 76 across Westmoreland County — is one of the east–west freight corridors that Punjabi and other long-haul truckers from across North America drive every week, linking Pittsburgh with Harrisburg and Philadelphia. Route 136 is the local state road that crosses it here, carrying township traffic between Greensburg, New Stanton and the surrounding communities. A crash that falls from the local road onto Turnpike property is a reminder of how closely the two networks sit on top of each other in this part of Pennsylvania — and why a single-vehicle local crash briefly became a Turnpike incident, with closures coordinated on the interstate below.
What happens next
The state police investigation is continuing, and the coroner's office is responsible for confirming the identities of the two people who died and the cause and manner of death. As of the Thursday reports, neither the cause of the crash nor the names had been released. Awaaz Punjab will update this story when the coroner's office or state police release them.