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Handout image of the scene, provided to NBCWashington.com by the Abingdon Fire Company

Two people were killed and three others were hospitalized after an accident on Interstate 95 in Harford County, Maryland, early Saturday morning.

Investigators say that the accident took place at around 2:00 a.m. on the northbound side of Interstate 95 at Maryland Route 24, near Abingdon.

Investigators believe one of the victims may have been involved in a road rage incident just prior to the accident, and are looking for the occupants of a dark-colored Jeep.

Maryland State Police say that 31-year-old Veney Tanner, Jr., of Abingdon, and 17-year-old Janelle Jackson of Baltimore were killed when the 2005 Lexus driven by Tanner was struck by a box truck while entering the fast lane of traffic. Authorities say the Lexus caught fire after traveling off the left side of the roadway.

Maryland State Police Corporal Kevin Watkins is credited with extracting Tanner, Jackson, and a third passenger -- 38-year-old Myron Doram of Randallstown, Md. -- from the burning car. Watkins was treated and released from Upper Chesapeake Hospital for smoke inhalation.

Tanner was pronounced dead at Chesapeake Hospital, while Jackson was airlifted to the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, where she was also pronounced dead.

Doram and the driver of the box truck, 63-year-old Clinton Griffin of Newark, Del., were taken to Bayview Hospital. There is no word on their condition.

Investigators believe Tanner may have been involved in a road rage incident involving the Jeep shortly before the accident. Authorities say that both vehicles were pulled over on the shoulder past the exit for Maryland Route 24 and at one point, people were seen getting out of the Jeep and walking toward the Lexus. According to investigators, at least one person was seen banging on the windows of the Lexus.

Police say that Tanner suddenly pulled out from the shoulder and back on to the highway just before the Lexus was struck by the box truck. The exact cause and nature of both the dispute and the crash is under investigation.

Two children found sitting by the side of Interstate 90 in western Idaho Tuesday told sheriff’s deputies that their mother had left them there after running out of gas, officials said.

Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement that the boys, aged three and six, said their mother had walked them to the spot on I- 90 where they were found. The kids said they had been taken there when it was still dark and raining.

She then took a ride to a gas station between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. local time (8:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. ET), the statement said. A construction supervisor working nearby found the children at about 9:10 a.m. local time (11:10 a.m. ET). 

'Argument with her boyfriend'
The woman was arrested on a negligent driving warrant at a house in Spokane Valley, Wash., on Tuesday night after deputies received a tip-off that she was there, NBC station KHQ reported. Kootenai and Spokane counties are on either side of the state line.

KHQ said the mother would most likely face more charges in Kootenai.

The sheriff’s office statement said the woman told the person who gave her the ride that “she had been in an argument with her boyfriend and just needed to get to a phone to call for a ride.”

The children – after being cleared by emergency medical providers – were placed in foster care.

KHQ reported that the woman was seen with her children at a Walmart near the state line Monday night. Someone called police saying she was acting strangely and she was checked out by medics.

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Updated at 10:45 p.m. ET: At least three people were killed Saturday in two crashes each involving 20 or more vehicles in winter conditions on interstates in northwestern Pennsylvania, authorities said.

The fatalities occurred in a crash involving more than 20 vehicles and tractor trailers on westbound Interstate 80 between Clintonville and Emlenton at about 3 p.m. ET, the Venango County Police Department told NBC News. There were at least six injuries. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had a lower death toll -- two -- and said whiteout conditions contributed to the accident.

NBC station WICU of Erie said that the crash involved 50 vehicles and that more than 100 people were injured, but it did not cite sources.

A public information officer at the Grove Medical Center in Slippery Rock told NBC News that another accident involving 40-50 vehicles occurred around noon on Interstate 79. She said about 20 people were treated at the hospital, but all but one were released. The Post-Gazette said the interstate was closed for about three hours after the crash in the southbound lanes in Mercer County.

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