A woman who was seven-months pregnant and her baby died after her minivan was crushed in a five-vehicle pile-up involving a tractor trailer Friday in Glen Burnie.

Six people were injured and Interstate 97 was closed for three hours, delaying school buses and snarling Memorial Day weekend traffic.

A tractor trailer, a pickup truck, a minivan and two other cars collided at 11:28 a.m. at I-97 and Route 100, police said.

Firefighters had to extricate the pregnant woman, 35, from her van before she was flown to Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, where she underwent an emergency caesarean section, state police and firefighters said.

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After delivery, the baby took a few breaths and died, police said.

An ambulance transported a man, 37, to Shock Trauma for serious injuries, while our five others were sent to Baltimore Washington Medical Center and Harbor Hospital for minor injuries, said Lt. Frank Fennell, spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.

All southbound lanes of Route 97 were closed for three hours, police said.

A tractor trailer tried to reduce speed before the crash, but investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the collision.

Hazardous materials crews from the fire department and nearby Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport had to clean up 100 gallons of fuel that spilled, and firefighters extinguished a vehicle fire, Fennell said.

More than 713,500 Marylanders, or 11 percent of the state’s population, will travel 50 miles or more this holiday weekend, according to AAA Mid-Atlantic.

That’s down 1 percent from 2007, which analysts predict is the result of gas prices soaring close to $4 a gallon.

“Unfortunately with today as the kick-off to the Memorial Day weekend, more cars will be on the road as people begin to make their holiday getaway,” said Christine Sarames Delise, a spokeswoman for AAA. “This will mean more road congestion and, sadly, the increased probability of automobile crashes.”

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com