RANDOLPH, N.H. — Investigators pleaded Saturday for members of the public to come forward with information that could help them determine why a pickup truck hauling a trailer collided with a group of 10 motorcycles on a rural highway, killing seven bikers.
The crash in remote northern New Hampshire involved members of Marine JarHeads MC, a motorcycle club that includes Marines and their spouses, authorities said. The tragedy sent shockwaves through New England’s communities of motorcyclists and military veterans, which often overlap.
“When something like this happens, we all feel it,” said Cat Wilson, who organizes a motorcycle charity event in Massachusetts and is a friend of some of the crash victims. “There is no tighter community than our biker community.”
Authorities identified the pickup driver as Volodoymyr Zhukovskyy, 23, an employee of a Springfield, Mass., company called Westfield Transport.
Zhukovskyy survived the accident and has not been charged, authorities said, but they didn’t release details on his condition or his whereabouts. A phone listing for him couldn’t be found.
Someone who answered the phone at a listing for Westfield Transport on Saturday and declined to give a name said the company is cooperating with the investigation.
The National Transportation Safety Board is among the agencies investigating. Authorities said they are asking for the public’s help in the form of videos, photos or other information about the accident or the vehicles involved.
“This is one of the worst tragic incidents that we have investigated here in the state,” New Hampshire State Police Col. Chris Wagner said at a Saturday news conference in nearby Lancaster. “It’s going to be a very lengthy investigation.”
A 2016 Dodge 2500 pickup truck towing a flatbed trailer collided with the bikers around 6:30 p.m. Friday on U.S. 2, a two-lane highway in Randolph, police said.