JEFFERSON COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Two men from Friendswood were killed in an accident with a construction crane in Jefferson County Thursday, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
The crash happened in the westbound lanes of I-10 near Beaumont around 4:30 p.m.
According to a release from DPS, it was initially reported that heavy equipment became dislodged from a commercial motor vehicle.
However, further investigation revealed that a 2013 Toyota pickup truck was traveling westbound on I-10 near Smith Road while construction crews in the area were working on the I-10 widening project, operating a heavy crane.
The crane appeared to experience some type of malfunction and struck the pickup, according to DPS. The two occupants of the truck were killed.
According to DPS, the driver, 37-year-old Sarfaraz Karowadia, and his passenger, 42-year-old Altaf Kasowadia, were both pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities did not say how the two men were related.
“This remains an active crash investigation as troopers work to determine the exact factors that contributed to this fatal crash,” DPS officials said in a release.
Traffic was backed up in the westbound lanes of I-10 for hours Thursday as investigators worked at the scene.
A family friend of the men killed told ABC13 they owned a convenience store in the Beaumont area not far from where the crash occured.
He said the two would commute from Friendswood to the convenience store daily.
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