WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – A 35-year-old Nixa, Missouri, man is dead after a crash involving two semis on the Kansas Turnpike south of Emporia Monday night. The crash closed all lanes for several hours.
The crash happened after 10 p.m. near mile marker 120, where a semi with a trailer was parked on the right shoulder. According to Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Jason Zeigler, a northbound semi drifted onto the shoulder and crashed into the trailer, knocking it into the ditch. The northbound semi then caught fire.
The driver of the northbound semi, 35-year-old Yuriy Lendel, died. The 28-year-old Texas man in the parked semi was taken to Newman Regional Health in Emporia with minor injuries. Both drivers were not wearing seat belts.
Heavy equipment was called in to move debris off the lanes of the turnpike.
