RASH OF ACCIDENTS REPORTED ON AREA HIGHWAYS; TRAFFIC TIED UP FOR OVER TWO HOURS ON INTERSTATE 55

A series of accidents on Interstate 55 in south Cape Girardeau tied up traffic for over two hours Monday. Six other accidents involving overturned vehicles were reported Monday across Southeast Missouri.

Cape Girardeau police responded to the I-55 accidents Monday morning. The five accidents, which occurred within minutes of each other in the northbound lanes, involved 11 vehicles and sent five people by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center with minor injuries, Cpl. Kevin Eudy said.

Police said Monday night names of those involved in the accidents were unavailable.

All but one of the other accidents reported to the Missouri Highway Patrol were single-vehicle accidents that injured only the drivers. No one was seriously hurt in any of those accidents.

The patrol could not say whether wet roads had anything to do with the number of accidents. About a dozen accidents were reported to the patrol Monday, including one later in the day Monday in the same vicinity of I-55 where the earlier accidents had occurred.. One person was taken to a doctor by private vehicle in the later accident, Eudy said.

The first interstate accident occurred at 6:31 a.m. when a northbound car slowed down near the Dutchtown overpass because it had missed its turn. The car was then sideswiped by a tractor-trailer that didn't stop.

This set off a chain of accidents, with one car running into a guardrail to avoid the first car and then a number of other vehicles rear-ending each other. The accident reports were still incomplete Monday night, police said, and names were unavailable.

Authorities are still trying to track down the tractor-trailer that drove off, Eudy said.

Police directed traffic, which had backed up to Scott City, onto an exit ramp to South Sprigg Street.

Later in the afternoon the patrol responded to the accident in which a vehicle driven by Amro Ibrahim, 28, of Scott City ran off the road and overturned just south of Scott City on I-55. He was taken by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center.

Other accidents reported Monday to the patrol:

* Christie L. Wilder, 19, of Holcomb was moderately injured when her vehicle ran off Highway 25 in Dunklin County and overturned in a field. She was taken to Twin Rivers Hospital in Kennett.

* Roxanne Gramlisch, 22, of Sedgewickville was moderately injured when a tire blew, she lost control of her vehicle and it overturned several times. The accident happened about one mile west of the Cape Girardeau County line on Highway 72. She was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

* Richard Beckwith, 33, of Dexter was extricated from his vehicle when it ran off Route D in Wayne County. The vehicle struck a culvert and overturned. He was taken to Doctors Regional Medical Center in Poplar Bluff.

* Robert Guthery, 28, of Batesville, Ark., was injured when his vehicle ran off U.S. 67 in Wayne County south of Greenville and overturned down a steep embankment. He was taken to Lucy Lee Hospital in Poplar Bluff.

* Juanita Masterson, 78, of Cape Girardeau and Susie Vinyard, 31, of Benton were injured in an accident west of Scott City at County Road 205 and Route M. Masterson lost control of her vehicle, crossed the center line and hit Vinyard's vehicle. Vinyard's car ran off the road and overturned. She was taken by ambulance to Southeast Missouri Hospital.

The patrol also reported that a Caruthersville man was killed Saturday night when he lost control of his vehicle, hit a metal culvert and overturned in a ditch. Robert Lunceford, 18, was killed in the accident, which happened at 8:35 p.m. five miles northeast of Hayti on a county road. He was not wearing a seat belt.