ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- A tractor-trailer plunged off the Bay Bridge and into the Chesapeake Bay on Sunday, killing the driver and causing massive traffic delays.

The tractor-trailer fell about 30 to 40 feet into shallow water at about 4 a.m. Two other people were seriously injured in the three-vehicle accident, officials said.

The man who died was identified as John Robert Short, 57, of Willards, Md. Medics said that Candy Lynn Baldwin, 19, of Millington, Md., and Trisha Ann Michele Carrigan, 21, of Quincy, Cal., were both injured and taken to Shock Trauma.

Baldwin was driving a Chevrolet Camaro with Carrigan as a passenger, officers said. Two other people were involved in the crash but were uninjured.

The plunge on the eastbound span closed that bridge and traffic was diverted to the westbound span, which had been closed for maintenance.

The transportation authority advised motorists to avoid the bridge, noting traffic was backed up at least 10 miles on each side of the bridge at 2 p.m.

The 18-wheeler, which was upright with its top visible in about 10 feet of water, had been traveling westbound when the accident occurred. It collided head-on with another vehicle, police said.

Mountaire Farms, a poultry processing company based in Selbyville, Del., owns the truck, said company spokesman Roger Marino, who said he did not know the driver's name or what the truck was hauling.

Crews also worked to contain a spill from the truck's diesel fuel tank. A crane was at the scene to lift the tractor-trailer from the water.

The scenic four-mile bridges, which peak at about 186 feet, are a major artery to the Delaware and Maryland beaches. The eastbound span opened in 1952 and the parallel structure opened about 20 years later.