State Police: Three Die in Crash, One Injured

Three people from Arlington and Alexandria died in a Tuesday evening wreck on Interstate 81 in Washington County, according to Virginia State Police.

Abenezer D. Thewdros, 19, of Arlington, and two male passengers, Abel N. Ayele, 19, of Arlington, and Alemu S. Ameha, 25, of Alexandria, all died at the scene.

At 6:22 p.m. Tuesday, state troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash near the 34 mile marker heading south on I-81.

A tractor-trailer traveling south on I-81 experienced a flat tire and pulled off onto the right shoulder to inspect the tire, according to VSP spokesperson Corinne Geller.

"As the tractor-trailer driver and a passenger were walking back to the cab of the truck, a southbound Toyota Avalon ran off the left side of I-81," according to Geller. "The driver of the Toyota (Thewdros) overcorrected causing the car to slide sideways into the rear of the tractor-trailer."

A fourth person in the Toyota, Arketsadik Yilma, 19, of Alexandria, was flown by Virginia State Police Med-Flight helicopter to Bristol Regional Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries.

Neither the tractor-trailer driver nor his passenger was injured, according to Geller.

Alcohol doesn't appear to have been a factor in the crash.