A passenger on a motorcycle was killed and the driver was injured Monday morning in a collision with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 10 at Houghton Road.
Meanwhile, an early-evening motorcycle accident in the Foothills left another motorcycle driver with life-threatening injures, officials said.
Westbound travel on I-10 was closed for several hours after the morning wreck, said Officer Jim Oien, a Department Public Safety spokesman.
The three-vehicle crash occurred about 11:30 a.m. when a tractor-trailer hit a motorcycle, Oien said. The driver of the motorcycle was seriously injured and taken to a local hospital for surgery. The female passenger was killed in the wreck, Oien said.
The semi may have been in the process of changing lanes when the collision occurred, he said.
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The motorcycle ended up partially under the right side of the trailer, Oien said.
Prior to the semi coming to a stop, the trailer was hit by a Jeep Liberty. That vehicle was in the right lane and struck the area just in front of the trapped motorcycle.
A second accident occurred directly behind the collision involving the semi and the motorcycle when a CTI tractor-trailer combination was rear-ended by a pickup truck, Oien said.
The driver of the pickup was taken to a local hospital, where he was treated and released.
Eastbound traffic also slowed due to the wreck, he said.
No citations had been issued and the investigation is ongoing.
The Foothills accident occurred around 6 p.m. after a motorcycle, southbound on North Sabino Canyon Road approaching East Snyder Road, crossed the median into oncoming traffic, said Deputy Dawn Bark-man, a spokeswoman for the Pima County Sheriff's Department.
The motorcycle almost hit a northbound Hummer, but the two vehicles missed each other, sending the bike and its driver into nearby river rock, Barkman said.
The driver of the motorcycle was hospitalized withlife-threatening injuries, she said.
No other vehicles were involved, and no other people were injured in the accident, Barkman said.
Barkman could not confirm the condition of the motorcycle driver Monday night.
The accident closed traffic on North Sabino Canyon Road near the scene for "a couple of hours," Barkman said.
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