A chain-reaction crash on southbound Interstate 75 killed a 59-year-old Miamisburg woman and injured four others Tuesday, Aug. 4, shutting down the highway between the Warren and Montgomery county lines for more than five hours during the morning commute.

Karen White, driving a 2017 Honda Civic, was pronounced dead at the scene just north of mile marker 38 in the Warren County city of Franklin, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol's Lebanon Post. The crash was reported just after 6 a.m.

The closure blocked all southbound lanes between the Ohio 73 exit in Warren County and the Austin Boulevard exit in Montgomery County, disrupting a corridor used daily by Montgomery and Blue Ash-area commuters heading toward Cincinnati. Ramps from Ohio 73 and Austin Boulevard onto I-75 were also closed. Lanes reopened by about 4:30 p.m., WHIO-TV reported.

Five vehicles were involved.

The OSHP's preliminary account, reported by Fox 19 and ABC 6/Fox 28 Columbus, described the sequence this way: A 2019 GMC Yukon and a 2026 Chevrolet Trax had stopped in the left-center lane. The Trax driver, Kelvin Munyurangabo, 25, of Dayton, stepped out of his vehicle while it was stopped.

A 2018 Ford Edge driven by Samantha Dahl, 40, of Centerville, then struck White's Civic from behind, propelling it into the parked Trax. The Trax was pushed into Munyurangabo, striking him. White's Civic spun into the middle of the interstate, where a southbound 2010 Ford E-150 cargo van hit it, sending it into the concrete median barrier.

Munyurangabo, the Chevrolet Trax driver who had exited his vehicle, was taken to Atrium Medical Center with life-threatening injuries and later transferred to Miami Valley Hospital. Andre Foster, 52, the Yukon's driver, and his passenger Tiffany Wilson, 55, both of Garden City, Michigan, were taken to Kettering Health Middletown with serious injuries. Dahl was also transported to Atrium Medical Center with serious injuries. Paul Young, 34, the cargo van driver, was not hurt.

A public safety alert went out advising drivers to use alternate routes as traffic backed up along the corridor. The Franklin Fire Department and the OSHP's Lebanon Post responded to the scene.