Updated at 10:20 p.m. Saturday
Authorities are asking the public for information about the moments before a pickup truck collided with 10 motorcycles in Randolph Friday night, killing seven riders.
Coos County Attorney John McCormick identified the driver of the truck as Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, a 23-year-old man from West Springfield, Mass. Zhukovskyy was driving at the time for Westfield Transportation of West Springfield, McCormick said Zhukovskyy survived the accident and did not need to be hospitalized and has not been charged, but authorities did not provide details on his whereabouts.
McCormick described the truck as a black 2016 black Dodge pickup truck with an attached car trailer. He asked anyone with information about the crash or what preceded it to contact New Hampshire State Police headquarters at 271-3636.
Deputy Attorney General Jane Young said she expected the names of those killed in the crash to be released Sunday.
Two of the three injured riders have been released from the hospital as of Saturday afternoon, according to Young. The third injured rider remains in the hospital, she said.
At least some of the victims were members of the Jarhead Motorcycle Club, a New England-based club that includes Marines and their spouses. According to a GoFundMe page set up to benefit victims and their families, the group was riding to a charity event in Gorham at the time of the crash.
Original story continues below.
Several motorcycles and a pickup truck collided in Randolph Friday, killing seven people and injuring three others, and sending onlookers rushing to treat and help the motorists peppered along the road.
New Hampshire State Police said a 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck collided with 10 motorcycles on U.S. 2 in Randolph around 6:30 Friday evening. The cause of the deadly collision is not yet known. The pickup truck was on fire when emergency crews arrived.
Witnesses described a "devastating" scene as bystanders tried to help riders lying in the road.
Along with the seven dead, state police said two additional people were transported to the Androscoggin Valley Hospital and one was airlifted to Maine Medical. Police did not provide any names.
"It's tragic," New Hampshire State Police Capt. Chris Vetter told reporters during a late night news conference. "It's tragic for those involved, tragic for the families, so we're doing our job, we're doing our work and our thoughts are with the people who were adversely affected by this."
Parts of the highway was closed Friday evening, state police said, and would be closed for several more hours as investigators comb the scene for clues. A photo posted by WMUR-TV showed motorcycles and wreckage scattered across the highway and a truck on the shoulder in flames.
"There was debris everywhere," said Miranda Thompson, 21, of Manchester, who was several cars back and recalled seeing a truck in flames on the side of the highway and six motorcycles.
"People were in the grass. There were people putting tourniquets on people, trying to make sure they didn't move," she said. "You could tell people were lost who it happened to ... It was a sad day for all of them."
Jerry Hamanne, co-owner of a nearby bed-and-breakfast where most of the motorcyclists were staying, said he and a doctor also staying at his inn went to the scene to help. Others tried to assist as best they could but some people were already dead.
"It was so devastating to see the bodies on the road," Hamanne said. "My God, I don't want to see something like this again."
Charlie St. Clair, executive director of Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, which hosts one of the state's biggest rallies in June, said he couldn't recall an accident of this magnitude involving bikers in the state.
He wasn't on the scene but said had been fielding calls about the accident much of the night. St. Clair said he heard the riders were mostly Marine veterans who belonged to the same motorcycle club.
"This is staggering and it's tragic beyond description," St. Clair said. "You have a bunch of people out for a ride enjoying one of the first nice days we had. To have this happen, it defies logic quite frankly."
