View of the fatal crash, multi-vehicle pileup Monday on Interstate 40. Courtesy/NMSP

NMSP New:

GUADALUPE COUNTY — Just before 10 a.m. Jan. 8, the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) responded to a fatal crash on Interstate 40 around milepost 291, east of Santa Rosa.

The initial investigation indicated that a semi-tractor trailer driven by a 21-year-old from Indianapolis, Ind., was traveling west on Interstate 40 when, for reasons still under investigation, it rear-ended a passenger van driven by David James McGarrah, 71, of Neosho, Mo., and occupied by his 70-year-old passenger.

Medical personnel transported McGarrah and his passenger to a local hospital, where McGarrah was later pronounced deceased by the Office of the Medical Investigator. The extent of the passenger’s injuries is not known. The semi-truck driver was not injured.

Following the initial crash, a pileup of around 43 vehicles followed. During the pileup, there were multiple injuries reported, and the extent of those injuries and details of the pileup are still under investigation.

Inclement weather and driver inattention are believed to have contributed to the crash. This crash remains under investigation by the New Mexico State Police.