A man and woman from Tamaqua were killed Wednesday after their pickup truck collided with a work van on SR309 in Lynn Township (Lehigh County). State Police of Fogelsville identified the victims as Roger Jones, 52, and Geraldine Jones, 58, of Tamaqua. The two-vehicle crash occurred about a half-mile south of Gun Club Road on the Blue Mountain around 2:30 PM. In addition to recent precipitation on the roadway, officials added that the area was also shrouded in a light fog.
State Police said the pickup truck was northbound when it slipped into the oncoming lane, colliding with the work van belonging to Equipment Depot of Allentown. Both vehicles had front-end damage.
The van driver, Matthew T. Amey, 29, of Allentown, was taken via Northwestern EMS to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest for minor injuries.
According to the Morning Call newspaper’s online story, Deputy Coroner Craig Hanzl pronounced the couple dead at the scene. Coroner Scott Grim stated the two died of multiple blunt force trauma and ruled the manner of death to be accidental.
Assisting at the accident scene were Germansville Fire Company and New Tripoli Fire Company, who also detoured traffic south of the Blue Mountain.
In addition, members of the West Penn Fire Company and Fire Police were dispatched to the Snyders intersection (SR895 and SR309) for traffic control while State Police reconstructed the accident scene. Both lanes were closed during the hour-long scene reconstruction.