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Fiery wreck on River Road still under investigation

Identification has yet to made of the person who died in a crash Monday evening on River Road that left the vehicle in flames.

“Everything is still under investigation,” Monongalia County Sheriff Todd Forbes said Tuesday. “That’s all I can really say right now.”

The wreck happened around 7 p.m., Forbes said.

Witnesses reported seeing a 2003 Ford F-150 pickup truck in a ditch, in the area of River Road and Lower Hildebrand Road.

By the time a River Road Volunteer Fire crew arrived minutes later, the truck was engulfed.

MECCA 911 dispatchers advised responders of a possible entrapment. The male victim was discovered after the crew put out the fire.

His body was transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Charleston for an autopsy and investigation, Forbes said.

The cause of fire, be it by the crash or mechanical failure, remained unknown Tuesday, the sheriff said.

For now, it appears to have been a single-vehicle wreck, the sheriff said, based on witness statements and the initial investigation.

River Road VFD, meanwhile, expressed its condolences Tuesday.

“Every loss is deeply felt, but when it happens in our close-knit community, the pain is even greater,” Chief Debbie Rinehart said in a release.

“Our hearts and prayers are with the victim’s family during this incredibly difficult time.”