3 dead in cow hauler crash

Three people died and a dozen were injured after a van crashed into a cattle trailer parked on the shoulder of a New Jersey highway, leaving the interstate strewn with dead cows, state police said on Sunday.

A man standing on the shoulder after his car struck the cattle trailer earlier and two van passengers died in the incident late Saturday on Interstate 287, New Jersey State Police said.

No charges had been filed in the incident as of Sunday morning, state police said.

Police said Troy Chase, 43, of Pittston, Maine, had stopped his truck on the right shoulder of the northbound lanes to repair a cattle trailer he was towing, when it was struck by a car driven by Ravi Naik, 23, of Hillsborough.

Naik exited the car and was standing on the shoulder when a passenger van carrying a dozen passengers struck the right guardrail, the trailer, the truck and Naik, before crossing the lanes and hitting the left guardrail, police said.

Naik was pronounced dead at a local hospital and two van passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. The dozen injured included Chase and the van's driver, Xu Feng Ma, police said. None of the injuries were life-threatening.

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