Update: Police Identify the 5 People Killed in Wrong-Way Crash on 495

The early morning collision in Middleborough is under investigation.
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The roof of a police patrol car at night, with the blue and red lights flashing.

PHOTO VIA ISTOCK.COM/KALI9

Update, Tuesday, 11:30 a.m.: Police have now identified the five people who died in Monday’s crash on 495. A woman named Valantein V. Burson, 31, of Fall River, was driving the car headed in the wrong direction on the highway Monday morning, police say. The four college students in the car headed north were Kraig A. Diggs, 20, of Paxton and Osterville; Jordan J. Galvin-Jutras, 19, of Hyannis; Jordan J. Fisher, 19, of Harwich; and Cory P. Licata, 18, of West Babylon, New York. Diggs and Galvin were students at Anna Maria College. Fischer and Licata were students at Becker College. No further updates were expected Tuesday.

Update 5:17 p.m.: State police have released more information about the victims of the wrong-way crash on I-495 that killed five people Monday. The driver heading southbound in the northbound lane was a 31-year-old woman from Fall River. The other vehicle, which was headed in the correct direction on the highway, contained four young people from Massachusetts colleges: A 20-year-old man from Paxton and Osterville, a 19-year-old Hyannis man, a 19-year-old Harwich man, and an 18-year-old man from West Babylon, New York. Police are not releasing their full names at this time.

Earlier: A wrong-way crash on I-495 early this morning killed five young people, state police said Monday.

Four of the victims were in one car headed north on the northbound side of the highway in Middleborough, near the exit for Route 28, around 12:11 a.m. There was one driver in the other car, which for some reason was headed south. The names of those killed have not been released, but officials described them all as “young adults” who are believed to be Massachusetts residents.

The circumstances that led to the collision were not yet clear by the time police officials addressed media Monday morning. But law enforcement believe it’s likely there was not much the driver of the car headed in the correct direction could have done to prevent the crash.

“There is no indication that time allowed for evasive action by the northbound motor vehicle operator to avoid the vehicle traveling the wrong way,” State Police Major Anthony Thomas said at a news conference, according to the Herald. “The crash this morning was caused by the wrong-way operator.”

Photos taken near the scene show the mangled, burnt wreckage of the cars involved in the crash.

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