A five-vehicle crash with subsequent fire at 5:24 p.m. May 19 shut down a portion of eastbound I-78 Greenwich Township, Berks County, after a tractor trailer operated by an unidentified male driver failed to slow for traffic and hit a Mercedes sedan driven by a black male. The big rig then hit another truck.

According to State Police Troop L Hamburg, a 2001 Mack truck driven by a white male was traveling behind a 2000 Freightliner driven by a white male in the right lane.

The Mercedes was traveling behind another tractor trailer driven by a white male who was driving along side the Mack truck in the left lane, when they all had to slow for backed up traffic on I-78 East approaching mile marker 38.1.

Police say another tractor trailer was traveling behind the Mack truck, when it allegedly failed to slow in time and collided with the Mercedes in the left lane, causing it to hit the tractor trailer in front of it, before hitting the rear of the Mack truck in the right lane causing it to hit the rear of the Freightliner.

The tractor portion of the tractor trailer driven by the unidentified man burst into flames immediately upon impact, police say.

The fire from the tractor trailer caused the trailer portion of the Mack truck and the other tractor trailer to catch fire.

All lanes of I-78 East were shut down at the collision scene.

The driver of the tractor trailer that burst into flames was transported to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Salisbury Township, for burn injuries, police say.

The driver of the Mercedes and his passenger sustained minor injuries.

This crash remains under investigation.

Kempton and Lynnport firefighters responded, with Lynnport bringing a tanker to assist.

Heavy truck traffic was diverted to Routes 143 and 737 until at least 10:30 p.m. that night.

Traffic was still be diverted onto Old 22 through Krumsville until at least 8:30 a.m. Saturday when one eastbound lane was reopened.

Police say in a separate incident, a 2014 Mazda 3 driven by Leslie Vazquez, 54, of Winchester, Va., failed to see traffic was stopped for the earlier five-vehicle crash and rear-ended a 2017 Dodge Grand Caravan driven by Hara Totapally, 54, of Ashburn, Va., 8:14 p.m. at mile maker 30.2 on I-78, Hamburg Borough.

The van was pushed forward into the rear of a 1995 Honda Accord driven by Martha D. Cabrera Maldonado, 52, of Allentown.

Vazquez sustained a suspected serious injury and transported by ambulance to Reading Hospital, police say.

Totapally and his passengers Bhavani Kapilavai, 48, and Leela Totapally, 18, all from Ashburn, were wearing seat belts and were not injured.

Totapally’s other passengers Radha K. Sharma, 54, and Vidyavathi Varanasi, 49, both from Ashburn, who were also wearing seat belts, sustained suspected minor injuries.

Maldonado and one of her passengers, Josian Delgado, 19, of Allentown, who wearing seat belts, were uninjured.

Another passenger, Maria Maldonado, 75, of Allentown, who was wearing a seat belt, sustained a suspected minor injury, police say.

The Mazda and the van sustained disabling damage and were towed from the scene.

Vazquez was charged with driving at an unsafe speed.

Schuylkill Valley and Kutztown Emergency Medical Services responded and transported multiple patients to Reading Hospital for evaluations.

Union Hose Fire Department, Hamburg, and Schuylkill Hose Fire Department out of Schuylkill Haven, assisted with traffic control and clean up.

Traffic was detoured through Hamburg Borough at Exit 30 while the interstate was cleared.