MARION COUNTY — A 26-year-old Paducah, Kentucky man pronounced dead at the scene of a single vehicle crash Friday morning on Interstate 57 just north of Salem.

Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon reports he pronounced James Booker Jackson Jr., dead at 3:11 Friday morning. Cannon says Jackson was killed instantly from blunt force trauma.

State Police reports say Jackson was traveling southbound on I-57 near mile post 125 his vehicle left the right side of the roadway, traveled down an embankment and struck several trees. Jackson’s vehicle came to rest approximately 75 feet west of the roadway.

Two passengers in the car were air lifted from the scene by Air Evac to St. Louis area hospitals.

They have been identified as 21-year-old Majhaun Southward of Murray, Kentucky and 21-year-old Alexis Staples of Paducah, Kentucky.

Firefighters report both Jackson and Staples were trapped and had to be extracted from the vehicle.

The motor and transmission were reportedly ripped from the car in the crash, and the ground cover where the vehicle ultimately landed caught fire, but the fire didn’t spread to the vehicle.

The Southbound lanes of the interstate were closed for about 45 minutes.