A single-vehicle wreck Friday proved fatal in Wythe County and led to a subsequent collision, according to Virginia State Police.

Spokesman Sgt. Michael Conroy said the crash happened just before 3:30 p.m. on northbound Interstate 81 near mile marker 73.

Haven Lonnie Dobbins, 62, of Narrows was riding a 2004 Harley-Davidson motorcycle when he ran off the left side of the road, struck a culvert and was thrown.

"He was coming off southbound Interstate 77 where it merges with northbound 81," Conroy said. Dobbins died soon after the crash.

Conroy said 10 minutes after the motorcycle crash there was a chain-reaction collision less than half a mile south on the interstate.

He said a car approaching slow traffic swerved to avoid it. A pickup truck behind the car was unable to stop, Conroy said, and it struck a car ahead of it, forcing it forward into the car in front of it. The car was pinned between the two vehicles and the driver had to be extricated from the vehicle and was airlifted to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Conroy did not know the name of the injured driver and the driver's condition was not available Friday night.

Lanes were closed for a few hours after the incidents.

-- Neil Harvey