HIGHWAY CARNAGE
Tragic I-81 crash leaves at least 6 dead and 20 hurt after 80-car pileup in Pennsylvania saw ‘truck erupt in flames’
SIX people are dead after dozens of vehicles were involved in a pileup in Pennsylvania. Tractor-trailers and other cars slammed into each other during a snow squall Monday morning.
Video of the crash on Interstate 81 showed drivers and passengers on the snowy road jumping out of the way to escape the carnage.
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Initial reports indicated as many as five people were killed in the wreckage as a video showed at least one vehicle on fire.
Pennslyvania State Police confirmed six deaths as of Wednesday.
First responders responded to the multi-vehicle crash that involved passenger vehicles and several tractors at 10.30am.
PSP officials said approximately 80 cars were involved in the crash - 39 commercial vehicles and 41 passenger vehicles - as a massive snowstorm battered through parts of .
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The Schuylkill County's Office of Emergency Management said first responders from four different counties responded and took about 24 patients to area hospitals for treatment.
All lanes of I-81 were shut down in the area due to the accident.
Officials believe a snow squall clouded visibility and likely contributed to the accident.
Smaller fires broke out in other vehicles as well, but all had been brought under control.
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Because of the fires, a full investigation was delayed, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper David Beohm said.
Footage uploaded to social media showed an out-of-control tractor-trailer smashing into a large dump truck, turning it nearly 180 degrees.
Thick black smoke and orange flames were seen billowing from a totaled SUV.
Video also captured another SUV striking a passenger car, sending the sedan spinning, narrowly missing its driver, who stood on the shoulder of the highway shrouded in and fog.
A snow squall warning was issued for Centre, Mifflin, Clearfield, Blair, Perry, Dauphin, Juniata, Huntingdon, Snyder until 1pm on Monday.
Officials warned a burst of heavy snow and gusty winds could reduce visibility, producing whiteout conditions.
The National Weather Service warned of “numerous brief heavy snow squalls with very poor visibility.”
“The squalls will quickly reduce the visibility to under one-half of a mile and coat the roads with snow,” said forecasters, urging that drivers get off the road or turn on hazard lights.
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Mike Colbert with the NWS office in State College said that pileups were the reason the weather service started issuing warnings for snow squalls a few years ago.
“They are very heavy snow showers where if you are driving into them, you can go from partly cloudy or sunny skies into an instant blizzard in a matter of seconds. That’s why they are so dangerous,” he said.
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