BOSTON (WHDH) - Newly-obtained surveillance video shows the moments before a car slammed into a concrete barrier and plummeted off an overpass in a deadly crash in Boston Wednesday morning.
The crash happened near 10 a.m. in the area of I-93 and Frontage Road.
In cell phone video taken after the crash, the car is seen engulfed in flames on the Exit 16 off-ramp from I-93. The burning car was upside down and debris was scattered along the roadway.
A separate video obtained by 7NEWS Wednesday afternoon showed the seconds before the crash as the car initially traveled down the Massachusetts Avenue Connector toward its intersection with Frontage Road. The car then crashed into the concrete barrier and damaged fencing along the roadway as it fell over the edge and burst into flames.
A Boston police spokesperson told 7NEWS the car went off the overpass at the intersection and landed on the off-ramp. Smoke soon billowed overhead as traffic slowed on nearby roads.
Police and fire officials confirmed the car’s driver died.
“Everybody that was in the area thought it was a building fire because of the amount of smoke coming from it,” said Boston Fire Department Commissioner Paul Burke. “It was a pretty intense situation.”
“It’s a tragedy,” he said. “It’s very sad. Any time anybody passes away, it’s terrible.”
Burke said the car in this crash fell 40 feet from the overpass to the off-ramp. Though the driver was killed, Burke said the crash could have been worse.
“Thank God there was no vehicle underneath,” he said. “This is a heavily traveled ramp and he could have landed on another vehicle. That would have been tragic.”
SKY7-HD was over the scene near 10:30 a.m. and spotted the charred remains of the car. The fire had been put out, but fire crews remained on scene. State police troopers were also on scene.
Other than the driver, there were no reported injuries.
MassDOT crews were spotted on scene near 12 p.m. Personnel from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner were also at the crash site alongside other investigators. Authorities had erected a series of tents around what was left of the car.
Crews towed the car away from the scene shortly after 1 p.m. and the area fully reopened to traffic later Wednesday afternoon.
“I was just driving to the city for work and I just saw a bunch of smoke and then there was a state trooper blocking off the highway and there was a car on fire,” said local commuter Kathleen Donohue, recalling her experience Wednesday morning. “…It’s unfortunate something like that happened.”
This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)