UPDATED 10:40 a.m.

MATTOON — Three men were killed and seven other people injured in two separate crashes involving multiple vehicles Tuesday afternoon south of Mattoon.

Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup said Raymond Houser Jr., 67, was a passenger in a van that was hit in the rear by a semitrailer tractor truck on Interstate 57 just before 3 p.m. He was pronounced dead at Carle Foundation Hospital at 6:25 p.m.  Also killed was Dale Tanksley, 56, of Bee Branch, Ark., the driver of the semi, whose rig caught fire after hitting three vehicles. He died in Coles County.

Illinois State Police at Pesotum said Mr. Tanksley was driving south in the right lane when he struck the rear end of a pickup truck that was slowing due to traffic that had stopped for a crash ahead that had killed another truck driver in an accident that occurred about an hour earlier.

The driver of the pickup truck, Timothy Buenker, 40, of Charleston, went into the center median. He refused medical treatment.

After striking the pickup, Mr. Tanksley kept going and hit the rear of a van driven by Dale Hulsey, 80, of Kinmundy. Mr. Houser was a passenger in that van.  The van also went into the center median.

Mr. Tanksley then hit the rear of another semitrailer driven by Bobby Beach, 38, of Adamsville, Tenn., sending it into the left lane of the interstate.

Mr. Tanksley’s truck then caught fire and came to rest in the ditch on the right side of the road. A mini-van in front of Beach’s truck was damaged by the flames from Mr. Tanksley’s truck. The driver of the mini-van, Hope Timmons, 33, of Effingham, was taken to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center near Mattoon.

Also taken to Sarah Bush were Beach and his passenger, Gregory Anderson, 41, of Union, Miss. Sarah Bush does not release information on patients.

Taken to Carle in Urbana were the passengers in the van driven by Hulsey: Mr. Houser, Katie Harvey, 22, of Newton, and Jacob Thompson, 29, of Cowden. Hulsey was listed in serious condition and Thompson in fair Wednesday morning. No information was available on Harvey.

Northrup planned to have an autopsy done Wednesday on Mr. Houser.

The accidents caused traffic to be rerouted off 57 for at least a few hours.

The earlier accident, also involving a death, occurred about 2 miles north of Neoga. It was also on I-57 southbound but in the Effingham state police district. Troopers said it involved two semitrailer tractor trucks.

At 1:51 p.m., David Erlinger, 24, of Albers, had parked his truck on the southbound shoulder due to a blown tire. He was outside the truck checking on it, when another semitrailer driven by Lawrence Baunsgard, 50, of Waterford, Mich., ran off the road and hit the back of Erlinger’s truck.

Mr. Baunsgard’s truck then ran off the road and caught fire. He was pronounced dead at the scene by the Cumberland County coroner, police said.

Erlinger was taken to Sarah Bush for treatment.