Two men and a number of cattle were killed Wednesday evening when a tractor-trailer veered into oncoming traffic on a two-lane highway near Hugo and crashed into three semi-trucks in a row.
Semi drivers Duane Olson, 60, and Clint Torres, 30, from Mansfield, Texas, were pronounced dead at the scene of the chain-reaction crash on U.S. 40 just east of Hugo, according to Trooper Nate Reid of the Colorado State Patrol.
Olson, whose hometown was not available, veered into the wrong lane, Reid said.
Joshua Ramirez, 29, of Dodge City, Kan., was hospitalized with minor injuries and his semi was extensively damaged, Reid said.
Jorge Moya, 43, a truck driver from Miami, was not injured, although his semi was seriously damaged.
“We may never know why he veered into the wrong lane,” Reid said of Olson.
When the accident happened, three semis were going east on U.S. 40, approaching Olson. The first collision happened at 4:52 p.m. when Olson, going westbound, veered into the eastbound lane and sideswiped the semis driven by Ramirez and Moya.
Olson then collided head-on with Torres’ semi.
All four semis remained upright, with Olson’s truck coming to rest on the north side of the road and the other trucks on the south side.
Reid said he does not know how many cattle were injured or killed or which truck they were in at the time of the collision.
“There’s a lot of moving parts to this investigation,” he said. “It will take a long time to sort out.”
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, kmitchell@denverpost.com or @kirkmitchell or
