Fiery jackknifed tractor trailer shuts truck lanes on Turnpike

A fiery jackknifed tractor trailer on the New Jersey Turnpike early Saturday morning closed the southbound truck lanes.

New Jersey State Police said a FedEx tractor trailer, driven by Elliot Remi, 32, of Queens rear-ended a mini van driving "slowly" in the right lane near Exit No. 8A (Jamesburg) around 3 a.m. and then jackknifed and caught fire. The driver of the mini van, Troy Claffee, 48, of The Bronx, was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries while the driver of the truck driver was not hurt.

The southbound truck lanes were closed off after the accident occurred but one lane was reopened around 6 a.m. The car lanes were unaffected by the incident.

Update: As of shortly after 8 a.m., State Police reported all lanes had reopened, but Total Traffic and the New Jersey DOT continued to say only one lane was open. It wasn't immediately clear which report was accurate.

An investigation and cleanup of the incident continued as of 8:10 a.m. No charges have yet been filed according to police.

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