James R. Anderson, 34, killed, Jeremy Johnson, 36, critically injured, airlifted to hospital, after their tractor-trailer strikes some debris on I-81 near Wytheville, crashes onto Route 90 below the freeway, and catches fire.

A tractor-trailer headed north on I-81 ran off the left side of the interstate after hitting a piece of guardrail in the road. The guardrail was damaged in another tractor-trailer crash that happened earlier in the day.

According to Virginia State Police, hitting the guardrail that was in the road caused the tractor-trailer to run off the left side of the road and into the median. The tractor-trailer continued down between the northbound and southbound lanes of I-81 in the median until it hit the edge of a bridge.

The tractor-trailer then fell below onto Route 90. The impact of the crash caused the tractor-trailer to catch on fire. The man who was driving the tractor-trailer, James R. Anderson, 34, of Tennessee died at the scene. A man who was in the sleeper cab, Jeremy Johnson, 36, also of Tennessee, was thrown from the tractor-trailer. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown to Bristol Regional Medical Center.