5 dead, including 2 kids, in I-65 crash near Lafayette, Ind.

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLS) -- A mother and her two sons were among five people killed in a fiery crash that shut down a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 65 near Lafayette, Ind., for several hours on Friday.

The victims were identified as Indiana eye doctor Jill Buck, 47, of Greenwood, Ind., and her two sons, A.J., 8, and Branson, 10, officials confirmed. The trio was in a Honda SUV returning from a trip to Chicago.

"I feel like God must have needed a new gladiator in heaven," said Lynne Herrick, a friend of the victims.

Mikhail Yuryevich Stepanov, 41, of Lafayette, Ind., and Ruslan Pankiv, 34, of Lake Zurich, Ill., were also killed.

PHOTOS: 5 killed in fiery I-65 crash

The crash occurred shortly before midnight Friday on southbound I-65 near Mile Marker 178.

Indiana State Police said the crash resulted when Pankiv, who was a driving a tanker truck filled with cooking oil, failed to slow down for a construction zone and caused a chain-reaction crash involving three vehicles -- a semi truck, Honda Pilot and Toyota Yaris.

Buck and her two sons were in the Honda Pilot. Stepanov was in the Toyota Yaris with a 31-year-old passenger, who survived. The driver of the semi, which was carrying frozen chicken wings, also survived.

Pankiv had been contracted by Hammond, Ind.-based Illini State Trucking Company, which said in a statement: "We want to extend our sympathies and condolences to the families of those killed in this tragic incident. We are currently conducting an investigation to gather facts as well."

Pankiv's main employer is a company called TXM trucking, based out of a home in Lockport. Pankiv's employer, TXM Trucking, has not returned ABC7's calls.

The ABC 7 I-Team has learned that this wasn't Pankiv's first truck crash. The details of an incident nine years ago are erily similar to this one. The 2006 accident also occurred on I-65 when Pankiv crashed into another truck that was also stopped in traffic. Pankiv was sued and filed for bankruptcy.

The company he was driving for at the time, Illini State Trucking, has several dozen violations for unsafe driving in the past two years, including violations for drivers being on the road longer than the eight-hour limit.