GIRDWOOD -- One person is dead and two people injured after a five-car accident on the Seward Highway near Girdwood on Friday afternoon, according to Alaska State Troopers.The crash took place at about 3:20 p.m., prompting troopers to temporarily close both directions of travel on the highway, troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said. The road was reopended shortly after 6:30 p.m.

Peters said the accident took place when a car traveling north merged into a passing lane on a straightaway at Mile 91. That vehicle struck another traveling south, though it was unclear if the collision was head-on or they side-swiped one another, Peters said.

"After the initial impact, the wreck kind of scattered from there," she said.

Vehicles began hitting one another like dominoes, she said. One vehicle carrying a trailer with two snowmachines got hit and lost them, with one shooting off and hitting another vehicle.