Illegal U-turn to blame in fatal Delaware accident

State Police say a tractor trailer driver was making an illegal U-turn on I-95, which caused the crash that killed the driver of a box truck.

State Police say the accident happened just after 3 a.m. on the southbound side of the interstate near the Delaware/Maryland state line, south of the Newark Toll Plaza.  

35-year-old Abubaker Jamal of Ohio was using the emergency crossover lane to make an illegal U-turn from the northbound to the southbound lanes of I-95.  That put his truck, which was hauling bags of flour, into the path of a box truck driven by 30-year-old Abodunrin Akinyanju of Maryland.  Akinyanju was trapped inside his truck and pronounced dead at the scene.  

Police shut down the highway at Route 896 causing massive backups and delays for drivers heading south. The road remained closed for about eight hours as workers cleaned up the large field of debris consisting of cargo from both trucks, including flour and plastic bins containing soiled clothing.

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