An 18-wheeler piling into stopped vehicles likely caused the deaths in the June accident that took eight lives connected to the Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a preliminary report this week giving many details of the Interstate 65 crash that killed one adult and 12 juveniles but did not issue a probable cause to the pileup.

Cliff Williams is a staff writer for Tallapoosa Publishers.