Freak-accident victim identified

Monroe County authorities identified 33-year-old Ana Abreu as the New York City woman killed in a freak Christmas morning crash involving a ruptured gas main.

Police responded about 1:30 a.m. to a single-vehicle crash on Lower Swiftwater Road in Pocono Township and found a sport utility vehicle on its roof near the road. One passenger, Jobanni Peralta, 49, also of New York City, got out of the vehicle and told officers three others were trapped in the car, the Monroe County district attorney’s office said Thursday.

Officers freed the driver, Luis Mercado, 33, of New York City, and his 2-year-old child, who appeared uninjured. Abreu was removed from the vehicle by Pocono Township firefighters and taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Pocono, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed and investigators are awaiting the findings of a pathologist, the district attorney’s office said.

Police at the scene could smell and hear gas leaking from beneath the road, which had been damaged. A large hole surrounded by slabs of asphalt and stone blocked the center of theroad,alsoknownasRoute314.

The scene was documented by investigators from the Pocono Township Police Department, district attorney’s office and Monroe County coroner’s office. Crews from UGI Utilities shut off the leaking gas and later repaired the pipe and road.

The Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission is also investigating, a spokesman said earlier this week.

The crash was initially attributed to an explosion, but Pocono Township Police Chief Kent Werkheiser and a UGI spokesman said Monday that there was no blast. Authorities also initially identified the woman killed as the driver of the car.

Anyone with information is asked to contact district attorney’s office Detective Tom McMahon at 570-517-3025.

— Peter Hall