State police say a trucker from Vermont has died after his rig rear-ended another on the New York State Thruway in the Hudson Valley, shutting down northbound traffic for about eight hours.
Troopers say the accident occurred around 9 p.m. Wednesday when 47-year-old Vernon Bigelow, of St. Albans, drove his tractor-trailer into the back of a truck traveling north in the town of Ulster between Interstate 90's Exit 18 at New Paltz and Exit 19 at Kingston.
Police say Bigelow's rig then went out of control and hit the center guard rail before bursting into flames. He died at the scene.
The crash blocked both northbound lanes, forcing traffic to get off the highway at Exit 18. The lanes reopened around 5 a.m. Thursday.
The cause of the crash is being investigated.
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