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81-year-old driver dies after semi hits his SUV on I-69

Man dead after crash on I-69

VAN BUREN, Ind. (WISH) — An 81-year-old Ohio man died Thursday afternoon when a semi hit the SUV he was driving on a rural stretch of I-69 in northeastern Grant County, police say.

Noah L. Yoder, of Hicksville, Ohio, died at the crash that happened just after 2 p.m. Thursday on I-69 about 6 miles north of the State Road 18 interchange for Marion and Montpelier, according to an Indiana State Police news release issued Friday afternoon.

Investigators think Yoder was driving a 2021 Ford Explorer northbound when Gurmanjit Singh, 25, of Greenwood, drove a 2020 Volvo semitractor-trailer into the rear of the SUV. Investigators have not determined why the semi hit the SUV.

Singh was not hurt in the crash.

The consumption of alcoholic beverages nor narcotics were suspected of contributing to the crash, police say.

No arrests or citations were mentioned in the news release.

Authorities from the state police, Grant County, and the town of Van Buren responded to the crash. Van Buren is about a 1-hour, 35-minute drive northeast of downtown Indianapolis, and an hour’s drive southwest of downtown Fort Wayne.

Hicksville is a village of about 3,400 residents just east of the Indiana-Ohio border, and about a 40-minute drive northeast of downtown Fort Wayne.