Another Major Motor Vehicular Collision Results in Fatality, This Time in Columbia County

Hudson Valley road ways continue to prove treacherous as a disturbing string of major motor vehicle collisions continued with yet another accident occurring yesterday. This latest serious collision involved two vehicles and happened at a location in Columbia County.

Fatal Accident in Ghent

The accident under investigation currently occurred during the afternoon, shortly before 1:30pm in the Town of Ghent, at location on State Route 9H just north of Falls Road. Within minutes of the accident occurring, it was reported and State Troopers quickly raced to the scene.

According to the press release issued by the New York State Police, upon arrival, Troopers saw the aftermath of the two vehicle collison involving a 2010 Chrysler Sebring and a dump truck. The Chrysler was left on the east shoulder of the roadway and the dump truck was stopped on the west side and not only caught fire but became engulfed in flames.

Both the Ghent and West Ghent fire departments arrived on the scene to deal with the blaze. The driver of the dump truck, who was identified as Wayne Keyes, 55, of Niverville, NY, was able to escape the truck and was transported to the Albany Medical Center by the Valatie Rescue Squad for treatment of minor injuries.

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The story was not the same for the driver of the Chrysler. That driver was identified as Zachary Seyerlein, age 26, of Stockport, NY and he was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Accident Investigation

With the victims and fire attended to, investigators began their preliminary investigation into figuring out what caused the accident in the first place. While investigators were on the scene, a section of State Route-9H was closed off between County Route 22 and County Route 25.

In their preliminary investigation, investigators determined that the Chrysler, driven by Seyerlein, was traveling north on SR-9H when his vehicle his vehicle crossed over the center line and went into the southbound lane, where Seyerlein and Keyes then collided.

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In total, members of the NY State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Collision Reconstruction Unit, and Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit all responded to the scene and at this time the investigation into the crash is ongoing.