One dead in fiery Route 78 crash between car, tractor trailer

A crash between a truck and car on Route 78 east in Union Township left one person dead in the overnight hours of Wednesday morning, according to State Police.

Spokesman Alejandro Goez told New Jersey 101.5 both the tractor trailer and a BMW 328 were traveling eastbound in the local lanes when the sedan hit the truck from behind causing both to become engulfed in flames.

The driver of BMW, Kadeem Buckham, 29, of Maplewood was killed in the crash while his passenger, a 28-year-old Maplewood woman sustained non-life threatening injuries, according to Goez. The driver of the truck was not injured, Goez said.

Video of the crash in the eastbound local lanes near the Garden State Parkway just after 3 a.m. posted by ABC 7 Eyewitness News showed a sedan wedged in the rear of the truck's trailer.

TAP Into Union reported the tractor trailer was carrying Chinese food containers that melted into the roadway because of the fire.

State Police did not say if the person who died was in the truck or car or the circumstances of the incident.

The local lanes were closed for about four hours for an investigation sending all traffic into the inner lanes and creating a multi mile delay. One lane reopened in the local lanes around 7 a.m.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ

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