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Accident on I-78 Eastbound
June 3, 2007
Firefighters extinguish a tractor-trailer fire caused by a multiple-vehicle accident on I-78 eastbound early Sunday afternoon, June 3 in Upper Saucon Township.

The Lehigh County Coroner's office said today it will take another day to identify the two people killed in a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 78 yesterday afternoon.

Dental records were being used to establish the identity of the victims, according to the coroner's office.

A tractor-trailer rear ended a car in the eastbound lanes, triggering a fire that burned the truck and the car. Two people in the car were killed, while another 11 people in the resulting chain-reaction crash were taken to area hospitals.

Cpl. Jon Nederostek of the state police at Fogelsville said six vehicles were involved in the crash, including a minivan, two other cars and a pickup truck .

Nederostek said the tractor-trailer was loaded with frozen poultry and hit the car about 12:45 p.m. as traffic was slowing for a construction area around mile marker 63, about a mile from the Lehigh-Northampton County line.''The trucker failed to come to a stop and hit one of the cars,'' Nederostek said. ''It was fully involved [on fire] when we got here. We're having problems identifying the car.''

R.E. Gallman, 46, of South Carolina was driving the truck and apparently fell asleep as he approached stopped traffic on eastbound I-78 in Upper Saucon Township, police said. The truck plowed into the rear of a car, starting a chain-reaction crash.

The driver and passenger in the car Gallman hit died. Gallman was hurt, as were Chun Kim, 62, and Kyungim Kim, 62, both of Downington; Lori Bedics, 44, of Hellertown; a 17-year-old driver from New Jersey, whose name police withheld; and Carlos Soria, 43, Rosa Portugal, 52, Rosa Soria-Huoaco, 48, Victor Tipiani, 22, and Diana Zegare, 38, and an 11-year-old girl whose name police withheld, all of New Jersey.