GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY - Washington state seismologist TonyQamar was one of two men killed in a log truck accident on windingU.S. 101 north of Hoquiam, officials said.

Qamar, 62, research associate professor of earth and spacesciences at the University of Washington, died in the crash alongwith Daniel J. Johnson, 46, a former University of Puget Sound geophysicsprofessor, UW seismology spokesman Bill Steele said.

"I've lost a dear friend; and, the guy I depended on for so many different things, here in the lab," Steele said of Qamar. "He's irreplaceable. I don't know where we go from here."

Qamar and Johnson were on their way to the Olympic Peninsula tocollect instruments and data concerning the "slow-slip" quakethat recently occurred off the coast, Steele said.

"He played the cello, he was an All-American cross country skier, he was the best student I ever had. As a scientist, he was at the top of the field."

The scenic road between Hoquiam and Humptulips on the westernOlympic Peninsula was closed in both directions for about 8½ hoursafter the crash.State Patrol investigators wrote that because of an apparentequipment failure, logs fell off a trailer being pulled by anorthbound 1992 Kenworth truck.

Johnson, who was driving a 1998 Saturn, went off the road to tryto avoid the hazard but the car was still hit by some of the logsand shoved into timber and brush. Johnson and Qamar were pronounceddead at the scene.

Steele said Qamar, who joined the Washington faculty in 1983,had been a key scientist among those at the university who studyearthquakes and volcanoes.

"What have we lost?" Steele said. "Well, we've lost a scientist who is really concerned about the quality of life for people who live in earthquake country. We have terabytes of information Tony gathered in the '80's and '90's (about earthquakes and land movement). That will be just part of Tony's legacy."

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