Editor's note: This version corrects the age of Arturo Paez of Stratford.

Old Lyme – State police have identified two victims in the eight-vehicle fatal crash that occurred early Saturday morning near Exit 70 on Interstate 95 in Old Lyme.

The double fatal accident, one of two serious accidents Saturday morning along the same stretch of the highway, also resulted in serious injuries to one other person and minor injuries to seven others, state police said.

The deceased were identified as Hilda Thomas, 61, of Abingdon, Md., and Stacy Lockhart, 39, of Selma, Ala. Both were passengers in a Buick Encore driven by Debra Taliaferro Holmes, 56, of Manalapan, N.J., who sustained serious injuries, police said. All three were wearing shoulder and lap belts, police said.

Reached Sunday morning at Yale-New Haven Hospital, Taliaferro Holmes said that several of her ribs are broken and that she is in a lot of pain. She said she was traveling with Thomas and Lockhart, two of her sorority sisters, when the accident occurred.

"I'm trying to piece it together," she said. "I think one tractor-trailer hit another tractor-trailer and that tractor trailer hit us." 

According to the police report on the accident, a tractor-trailer driven by Gilbert Blaisdell, 55, of Farmington, N.H., and owned by the Precision Motor Transport Group, and other driven by Rowan Phillip, 66, of Sparta, N.J., and owned by New England Motor Freight, were among the vehicles involved.

The accident occurred about 5:30 a.m. on the northbound side of the highway about a half mile past the Exit 70 off ramp, police said. All eight vehicles collided with one another. The accident is under investigation.

Other drivers and passengers involved in the accident were: Alexander Eliseo, 73, of East Haven; Janice Goodall, 60, of 15 Brill Ave., Waterford; Yolanda Wilkins, 49, of Neptune, N.J., and her two passengers, Phyllis Troy, 61, of Tinton Falls, N.J., and Trevia Robinson, age and address unavailable. Also involved were John Bares, 68, and his passenger, Jane Marron, 61, both of Fairfield; and Pamela Coefield, 61, of Lakewood, N.J., and her passenger, Diane Lee, 55, of Neptune, N.J. Police said all drivers and passengers were wearing seat belts.

Eliseo, Goodall, Wilkins, Troy, Robinson, Coefield and Lee sustained minor injuries, police said, while the others were not injured.

The eight-car accident was the second that morning, after a 4:30 a.m. crash on the southbound side of the highway in which a tractor-trailer driven by Arturo Paez, 62, of Stratford, crashed into a guard rail and then into a concrete bridge support. He was taken by Life Star helicopter to Yale-New Haven Hospital with serious injuries. His condition was not available Sunday morning.

The accident is under investigation. 

The accidents closed both lanes of the highway for much of the day on Saturday.

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy