Justin L. Mack

justin.mack@Indystar.com

UPDATE 4:15 P.M.: Police have identified the truck driver killed early Wednesday in a fiery crash on I-65, and fire crews working to clear the wreckage from the highway found the man's dog alive in the back of the cab.

Police said Tyrone McKenny, 52, of Quinby, S.C., was driving the semitrailer truck when it left the southbound lanes of I-65 near the 93-mile marker. What caused McKenny to lose control of the vehicle remains under investigation.

It turns out that McKenny wasn't riding alone.

During the cleanup of the crash, officials from the Needham Community Fire Department found McKenny's dog inside the vehicle.

The dog has been taken to an area vet and is doing well, fire officials said. Members of the fire department are fostering the dog until she can be returned to her family.

Crews from Graham's Wrecker Service and Generations Collision Services shared a photo of the dog wrapped in a blanket with the burned semi in the background on Graham's Facebook page.

The crash remains under investigation by the Indiana State Police.

9:34 A.M. WEDNESDAY: Trucker dies after being pulled from fiery crash by good Samaritan

A good Samaritan from Crown Point risked his own life early Wednesday in an attempt to save a truck driver from a fiery crash on I-65.

Although the driver ultimately died, police said, the actions of 56-year-old Bryan Corns offered the man a chance at survival.

"I saw the crash and just couldn't drive by without stopping to help," Corns said in a statement from State Police. "When I got to the cab of the truck, the trailer was blazing. It was burning me, but I knew I had to get him out."

The semi was hauling liquid protein in large plastic containers. Police said Corns got the liquid all over him, was nearly burned and was inhaling smoke, but he still managed to enter the vehicle and pull the still unidentified driver from the wreckage.

Firefighters and paramedics quickly arrived and began treating the driver, police said. He was later transported to the hospital, where he died at 7:14 a.m.

"Bryan Corns bravely put his life on the line for a complete stranger to save the driver from a horrific death inside that burning semi," read the State Police statement.

Corns turned down medical attention.

Investigators think the semi ran off I-65 shortly after 6 a.m. Wednesday. The truck struck a guardrail and traveled 50 feet off the road before striking a tree and catching fire.

The flames quickly spread to the grass and trees before being contained by firefighters, police said.

The southbound lanes of I-65 were closed for more than an hour. Police said the wreckage would be cleared away later Wednesday.

All lanes are open, but traffic is moving slowly, police said.

Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.