Multiple fatalities in two I-77 wrecks

A traffic accident on I-77 northbound near mile marker 73 just after 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

Three individuals, including two children, are dead following two uninvolved wrecks on I-77 on Wednesday and Thursday. Yadkin EMS Director Keith Vestal confirmed that two children were killed in a wreck on I-77 near mile marker 73 on Wednesday.

Sgt. J.W. Baity with N.C. Highway Patrol said the accident involved an SUV travelling northbound on I-77 around 12 noon on Wednesday when traffic slowed, the driver of the SUV, a Brittany Adkins, braked and then travelled off the roadway to the left colliding with a guardrail then back into traffic in front of an oncoming tractor trailer. The children killed in the wreck were ages 14 and 5 years old. Adkins and the driver of the tractor trailer, Brian Wallace, were transported to the hospital.

A third person died in a single-vehicle accident involving a tractor trailer in nearly the same location, south of 421, on Wednesday just before 7 p.m. The driver, Emeko Blakes, travelled off the roadway and collided with a guardrail. The exact cause of that wreck is still undetermined.