GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — We’re learning more about one of the victims killed in a tanker explosion that had Interstate 85 shut down for more than 10 hours Saturday in Gwinnett County.
[READ MORE: Police identify victims killed in massive tractor-trailer fire on I-85]
Channel 2’s Matt Johnson learned that a 31-year-old woman was killed when the tractor-trailer filled with fuel hit her car, flipping it on the interstate, triggering the inferno that engulfed the interstate.
Authorities said the woman had stopped on the interstate because she was involved in a separate crash.
Johnson spoke to the victim’s family from Maryland over the phone Wednesday.
They told him that Emerald Lynn, a mother of two, had just moved to Georgia last year and that her death has devastated the family.
“It was pretty devastating to see and to watch and to look at in general,” Lynn’s sister, Samira Jackson, said.
Images from the fiery and deadly crash on I-85 over the weekend were too much to bear for the family of Lynn.
“She was a good person. She was very family oriented. She cared about our family a whole lot,” Jackson said.
“It’s been hard on everybody,” Lynn’s mother, Cassandra Young, said. “We’ve pretty much been sticking together.”
Yonas Worku, 44, was identified as the truck driver.
Lynn’s family said they view the tragedy as a freak accident.
“It was a tremendous loss and it was very sad but I don’t think anybody’s really angry,” Jackson said.
As Lynn’s loved ones prepare to be there for the children and bury their mother, they said they miss the little things they’ll never get back.
“Her smile, her personality, her love,” Jackson said.
Lynn’s family is dealing with unexpected expenses at the moment. For information on how to help both families of the victims, click here and here.
© 2020 Cox Media Group
