Alaska State Troopers are investigating a fatal collision that occurred at mile 194 of the Parks Highway at 4:32 AM Thursday morning.

According to the trooper dispatch, early this morning, a tractor-trailer driven by Karl Reid, age 61 of North Pole, was traveling on the highway when he impacted a box van that then caught fire.

The occupant of the van, who has yet to be identified, died at the scene. As of this morning, the van driver’s next of kin have yet to be notified.

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Units also respond to the scene in order to”complete a full inspection of the tractor-trailer,” troopers reported.

One lane of the Parks Highway at that location was closed as troopers conducted their investigation and wreckage was removed.

Update: On Monday, AST revealed the identity of the van driver as 59-year-old Russel Benzel.[xyz-ihs snippet=”Adsense-responsive”]

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