
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994                   TAG: 9411280042
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: CHICAGO                                 LENGTH: Short

FIERY CRASH KILLS 6, INJURES 9

A pickup truck fitted with the type of side-mounted fuel tanks that safety groups want recalled was involved Thursday in a fiery, three-vehicle accident that killed six people and injured nine .

The Thanksgiving night collision occurred when a Chevrolet pickup that was northbound on Interstate 57 jumped the median into the southbound lanes and collided with a car. A second car then hit the wreckage.

The cause of the accident remained under investigation Friday, state police said. One of the injured, Marilyn LaBoy, said she saw a car swerve in front of the pickup before it jumped the median.

The model year of the pickup was not known, but it did have side-mounted fuel tanks, said state police spokesman John Pastuovic. Tanks mounted on vehicle sides outside the protection of the frame were standard on General Motors trucks during model years 1973-87.

Transportation Secretary Federico Pena has scheduled a Dec. 6 hearing in Washington on whether to require a recall of millions of GM trucks with side-mounted tanks. Pena said Oct. 17 the trucks present an ``unreasonable risk'' of fire. GM has sued to block a recall.

GM said in a statement there was risk of fire in any high-speed frontal collision.

The six dead included the driver of the pickup and his wife, and the occupants of the first car, one of whom was a 2-year-old boy.

The injured, including eight members of one family, all were riding in the second car, police said. One, a 4-month-old boy, was in critical condition, relatives said.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB