Two Bluffton residents killed in Georgia car crash

Two Bluffton residents were killed when their pickup rear-ended a tractor trailer and burst into flames on Interstate 95 in Georgia early Wednesday morning, officials said.

Driver Michael Kautzmann, 22, and passenger Andrea Vega, 20, were pronounced dead at the scene, Glynn County Coroner Jimmy Durden said Thursday night.

The wreck occurred around 1:50 a.m. Wednesday just north of Brunswick, Ga., Cadet Jerry Taylor of Georgia State Patrol said Thursday.

Before the crash, traffic in the area had been slowed to a crawl because of a separate accident farther north on the interstate, Taylor said.

Officials had just opened one lane to traffic at the scene of the initial accident when the fatalities occurred, he said.

Kautzmann's 2002 Ford F-150 crashed into the back of a stopped tractor trailer in the left lane of northbound I-95. The pickup was wedged under the back of the trailer and caught fire, Taylor said.

Durden said the victims died of blunt force trauma and as a result of the fire. Kautzmann's pickup was completely engulfed in flames, he said.

The driver of tractor trailer was uninjured and had attempted to put the fire out, Durden said. He had to be restrained by other drivers who feared the man was getting too close to the flames, he said.

The victims were identified following a Georgia State Patrol check on Kautzmann's license plates. Both victims' families were notified later Wednesday morning.

The bodies were taken to South Carolina, where Jasper County Coroner Martin Sauls III is handling the arrangements.