Herculaneum, Mo. ? An eight-vehicle accident that killed two people in eastern Missouri is being blamed on inattention by a truck driver.

The wreck happened Wednesday on Interstate 55 in Jefferson County. Names of the victims, a 28-year-old woman and a 52-year-old man, have not been released.

The truck driver is a 32-year-old man from Huntsville, Texas. He has not been charged.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the truck driver took his eyes off the road briefly, and when he glanced back, traffic was slowing to a stop. He swerved but the cab of his tractor-trailer struck one vehicle, then dragged a Ford Focus for nearly 100 yards.

The male victim was in the Focus. The female victim was in a car that was part of the chain-reaction wreck.