HIGHLAND • Two Indiana men were killed in a multiple-vehicle crash on Interstate 70 in Madison County Monday morning that closed the highway's westbound lanes for more than nine hours.

It was the third such pileup to close a major area roadway in the last five days.

The dead were identified as Jerald D. Jaynes, 52, of Seymour, Ind., and William T. Burleson, 23, of Greensburg, Ind.

The Illinois State Police said Jaynes was driving a tractor-trailer that slammed into a line of traffic that had stopped in the right lane of westbound I-70 because of an earlier crash. The rig caught fire, trapping both men inside.

The impact pushed a tractor-trailer into a pickup, and the pickup hit the rear of a third tractor-trailer. Drivers of the pickup and one of the tractor-trailers suffered minor injuries and were taken to St. Joseph's Hospital in Highland.

Police had no immediate explanation for Jaynes' failure to stop in time to avoid the crash.

The fatal crash happened just before 7 a.m., roughly 10 minutes after the first crash that was about a mile farther west. Both wrecks were between the two I-70 exits for Illinois Route 143.

In the first crash, a tractor-trailer's front cabin and trailer became separated and veered off opposite sides of the highway, causing minor injuries to the driver, police said. The truck lost its load, dumping boxes of food across the median.

Police also reported a third crash near the first two involving a tractor-trailer and a motorcycle. Police said the motorcycle slammed into the back of the tractor-trailer, causing minor injuries.

On Thursday morning, a school bus carrying band students from John F. Hodge High School in St. James, Mo., slammed into the rear of a pickup on Interstate 44 near Gray Summit.

A second bus from the school immediately hit the rear of the first one. A 15-year-old student was killed, as was the 19-year-old driver of the pickup, and several other students were injured. The students were on their way to Six Flags St. Louis for an outing.

Shortly before noon on Friday, two people were injured, one seriously, in a fiery, five-vehicle pileup on Interstate 64 near New Baden. The wreck closed the highway's westbound lanes for several hours.