Authorities say a toddler is dead following a seven-vehicle wreck on Interstate 40 in western North Carolina that began when a tractor-trailer hit a sports utility vehicle.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Thursday that 1-year-old Haiden Bailey died Wednesday from injuries in the wreck east of Asheville.

Three other people were in critical condition.

Police say traffic was stopped Tuesday morning as lanes narrowed to one while crews trimmed trees along the highway between Asheville and Swannanoa. A truck hit the rear of the last vehicle and set off a chain-reaction crash in which a total of 11 people were taken for medical attention.

North Carolina Highway Patrol Sgt. Pat Staggs said the toddler and others in critical condition were in the fifth vehicle in a line of seven that had stopped.

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