A pair of fatal crashes Saturday morning led to highway closures and traffic jams in the Denver area.

The first crash was reported at 3:45 a.m. on northbound Interstate 25 at East 58th Avenue in Adams County, according to the Colorado State Patrol. Investigators determined that a Chevrolet SUV struck a Mitsubishi SUV, then a Mercedes Benz crashed into the Chevrolet, while the occupants were outside the vehicle. 

One of the occupants of a Chevrolet, a 30-year-old man, was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Another occupant of the Chevrolet, a 20-year-old man, was taken to a local hospital in serious condition. The driver of the Mercedes was also taken to a hospital in an unknown condition.

The crash led northbound I-25 to be closed for several hours; it reopened around 8:40 a.m.

The second crash happened on westbound Interstate 70 in Wheat Ridge. The single vehicle crash left one person dead and two people injured. The Wheat Ridge police department said the two injured people were taken to the hospital.

Colorado Department of Transportation traffic maps show that I-70 westbound is reduced to one lane between the Kipling and Wadsworth exits as of 11 a.m. Cameras show heavy traffic in the area.

Wheat Ridge police asked the public to avoid the area as the department traffic team investigates.