A road block on Route 2 west at Barton Cove in Gill before a section of the road where a head on collision involving a tractor-trailer occurred Wednesday, November 16, 2016.
A road block on Route 2 west at Barton Cove in Gill before a section of the road where a head on collision involving a tractor-trailer occurred Wednesday, November 16, 2016. Credit: Recorder Staff/Matt Burkhartt


Editor’s Note: Information in this article has been updated from an earlier version in which police confused the ages and home towns of the two drivers.

By ANDY CASTILLO

Recorder Staff

GILL — A tractor-trailer dump truck and car crashed on Route 2 east of Barton Cove campground, sending a 29-year-old Millers Falls man to the hospital via helicopter Wednesday morning.

In a statement, state police said “at approximately 10:13 a.m., troopers from the State Police Barracks in Shelburne Falls responded to reports of a serious injury crash on Route 2 at Chappell Drive in Gill. Upon arrival, troopers discovered a 1997 Geo Prizm had collided with a 1999 Mack tractor-trailer.”

The Prizm was traveling east on Route 2 “when it crossed completely into the westbound travel lane, in front of the tractor-trailer, subsequently striking the truck,” police said. Firefighters from Turners Falls and Gill used hydraulic extrication tools to remove the driver, who was seriously injured.

After the accident, the dump truck careened through a guardrail and crashed into a ditch.

The driver of the Prism was transported via medical helicopter to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, “with serious, life-threatening injuries.” He was not identified.

The driver of the dump truck, a 34-year-old man from Templeton, wasn’t hurt in the accident.

Authorities immediately closed Route 2 and detoured traffic at the Turners Falls-Gill Bridge on the Gill side of the accident site and at Route 63 on the other side. As of 5:45 p.m., the road was opened after state Department of Environmental Protection workers cleaned up spilled fuel.

“The remaining facts and circumstances of the crash are currently under investigation by troopers assigned to the State Police Shelburne Falls Barracks, Troop B Headquarters, State Police Collision Analysis Reconstruction Section, State Police Crime Scene Services Section, State Police Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section, State Police Detective Unit,” the statement said.

You can reach Andy Castillo

at: acastillo@recorder.com

or 413-772-0261, ext. 263

On Twitter: @AndyCCastillo