UPDATE (5/20 11:41 a.m.): Georgia authorities have released the names of five people killed in a fiery interstate crash with a tractor-trailer a few miles west of Savannah.

The Georgia State Patrol on Wednesday said 72-year-old Glenda Adams of Cohutta and 71-year-old Jerry Earnest of Varnell died in one car struck by the tractor-trailer. The others — 39-year-old Wendy Melton of Reidsville; 19-year-old Virgil Moody of Hagan; and 16-year-old Brittanie Altman of Claxton — were in a second car.

The victims died Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 16 after a tractor-trailer smashed into traffic that had been halted by construction.

Police said witnesses reported seeing the tractor-trailer drifting between lanes before the crash. The truck driver survived without serious injuries. The State Patrol said no charges will be filed until after its investigation is complete.

EARLIER:

Five people are dead, following a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 16, west of Savannah.

Seven vehicles were damaged in the crash Tuesday afternoon and a stretch of I-16 was shut down for hours near the busy interchange with Interstate 95.

Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew said investigators are looking into the possibility that the crash was caused by a truck driver sleeping at the wheel. He says witnesses reported a tractor trailer was "drifting in and out of lanes" before slamming into cars ahead of it.

Revenew says three people died in one car. Two others were killed when their vehicle was crushed between the tractor trailer and another large truck.

This is the second deadly accident on I-16 in a month.

Five students from Georgia Southern University were killed in a multi-vehicle pileup in Bryan County on April 22.

Tags: I-16 Accident