UPDATE, 4:25 p.m. Tuesday -- Alaska State Troopers said the Parks Highway was fully reopened at 3:15 p.m.
The agency has also identified the driver of the semi-truck as 72-year-old Carl Wilbur of Wasilla. Beverly Marple, 68, of Wasilla was driving the F-150 with her husband, 71-year-old Allen Marple, when the truck and semi-truck crashed Tuesday morning, troopers said in an online dispatch.
Beverly Marple was trapped in the truck during and suffered life-threatening injuries. Her husband was also seriously injured. Wilbur did not report any injuries. The incident is under investigation.
Original story:
The Parks Highway has been closed near Wasilla Tuesday, after a collision between a semi truck and a pickup that left the couple in the pickup with moderate to severe injuries.
Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said in an email that initial reports of the crash, at about Mile 51 on the Parks near South Ridgecrest Road, first came in at about 11 a.m.
West Lakes Fire Department Battalion Chief James Keel, head of the department's Big Lake station and one of the first responders on scene, said a third vehicle was involved in the crash, which occurred on the highway directly in front of Sully's Restaurant.
"What we had was a semi truck that jack-knifed due to a car that pulled out in front of it," Keel said. "(The semi) caught the pickup in an offset head-on."
The husband and wife in the pickup were both hurt, but only the wife -- who was trapped inside the vehicle -- suffered life-threatening injuries.
"The wife was the one heavily entrapped -- she was the driver," Keel said. "The crews did a good job; they had her out of the truck and into an ambulance in about 15 minutes."
Although a LifeMed air ambulance was sent to the scene, deteriorating conditions prevented its use to fly out either of the injured patients.
"LifeMed landed -- however, the weather got worse, so they both went out by ground ambulance," Keel said.
When firefighters left the scene shortly before noon, Keel said troopers estimated that the highway would be closed for one to two more hours.