FREMONT — A crash involving three tractor-trailers injured two drivers and closed the Ohio Turnpike’s eastbound lanes for about two hours Monday between the Elmore and Fremont interchanges.

The 10:20 a.m. incident started with a truck striking another that had stopped on the eastbound shoulder near Milepost 88.4 in Sandusky County’s Rice Township, troopers from the Ohio Highway Patrol’s Milan post reported. The truck in motion careened back into the roadway, and the third truck swerved, overturned, and caught fire apparently while trying to avoid a collision, according to the report.

Driver Terry Sutphen of Bellevue, Ohio, was helped out of the overturned truck by passers-by and was taken to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center in Toledo for treatment of head and back injuries and numerous cuts, troopers said.

Taurean Sims, who drove the semi that struck the stopped vehicle, was taken to Fremont Memorial Hospital for facial cuts and complaining of neck and shoulder pain. Elmer Kropf of Three Rivers, Mich., the driver of the stopped truck, was treated at the scene for cuts on his hands, according to the report.

Eastbound traffic was forced off the turnpike at the State Rt. 51 interchange near Elmore and directed to use U.S. 20 until the turnpike reopened about 12:30 p.m.

First Published August 20, 2018, 4:52 p.m.