NTSB opens investigation into Wisconsin crash that killed 4

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into a chain-reaction crash that killed four people and injured several others in southern Wisconsin last week.

The NTSB tweeted that the agency is coordinating the investigation with the Wisconsin State Patrol and does not plan to send NTSB investigators to the scene near Lodi at this time.

The State Patrol on Wednesday identified the four dead as Phillip Bruno, 55, of Ingleside, Illinois, who was driving a semi; Eleanor Heeringa-Owen, 59, of DeForest, Wisconsin, who was driving a Volkswagen Passat; Samantha McMullen, 23, of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, who was driving a Chevrolet Malibu; and Joseph Kosinski, 72, of Madison, Wisconsin, who was driving a Kia Seltos.

Eight vehicles were involved in the Friday morning crash that happened around 6:45 a.m. as traffic moved around an earlier crash scene. Authorities say a tractor trailer drove into the end of a traffic line and collided with multiple vehicles. The patrol says the 50-year-old driver of a pickup and a 10-year-old boy in the pickup, both from Oconomowoc, suffered life-threatening injuries in the multi-vehicle crash.