80-car pileup on US highway leaves 6 dead

HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA (NYTIMES) - Six people were killed and two dozen others were injured in an 80-vehicle pileup on an interstate highway in Pennsylvania this week that began when a snow squall blinded drivers, authorities said Wednesday (March 30).

The chain reaction started just after 10.30am Monday on Interstate 81 in Schuylkill County, about 50 miles (80km) north-east of Harrisburg, where an early spring burst of wintry weather overwhelmed drivers in the northbound lanes, who struggled to see past the wind-driven snow and fog in their path.

The Pennsylvania State Police did not release details about the victims when it issued an update on deaths and injuries Wednesday.

Mr Jeremy Smallwood, assistant fire chief for the Lavelle Volunteer Fire Co, who was at the scene of the pileup Monday, said that when he got to the interstate, he smelled smoke billowing from a tractor-trailer and saw a sprawl of mangled vehicles, many with deployed air bags.

It looked like "something that you would imagine seeing in a movie or a television scene," he said. "But to see it in your town in front of your eyes and realise that these are real victims, it's a really harrowing experience."

Part of northbound I-81 remained closed through Tuesday as crews worked to clear debris from the accident. By Wednesday morning, tow trucks and cleanup crews had cleared the roadway, authorities said.

The pileup had snarled traffic for several miles on the highway, making it difficult for emergency responders to reach the wreckage, which authorities said extended for about 1 mile.

Mr John Blickley, a spokesperson for the Schuylkill County Office of Emergency Management, said that "the road conditions when the squall came through contributed to the accident."

Two dozen injured people were taken to four hospitals, and others who were injured but were able to walk away from the wreckage were taken from the scene by bus, authorities said.

One driver who was involved in the pileup captured the chain-reaction crash on video as it happened, and the diminished visibility that motorists encountered. The video, which drew widespread attention on social media, showed a convoy of tractor-trailers plowing into one other and skidding on the highway.

In the video, the driver of a sedan narrowly avoided being hit by another car after it struck a highway sign on the shoulder.

One person could be heard yelling, "Go, go, go," as the man recording the footage urged other drivers to "watch out."

Some drivers who had gotten out of their cars ran toward the woods as more cars and trucks slammed into the idled vehicles on the highway.

The man who captured the chaotic sequence expressed his disbelief as an SUV plowed into his Dodge Charger.

"My car is gone," he yelled.

Mr Kenny Marlow, president of the Lavelle Volunteer Fire Co, said that its office is near the interstate and that it was not uncommon for snow squalls to cause crashes there.

On Feb 19, five people were injured in a pileup that involved about 50 vehicles on I-81 near McAdoo, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles north-east of where the pileup Monday happened, according to local news media outlets.

The conditions this week were simply "treacherous" and "nasty," Mr Marlow said.

Mr Greg DeVoir, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in State College, Pennsylvania, said that about 1 inch (25.4mm) of snow fell in less than 20 minutes Monday morning in the area where the pileup occurred.

"That's a dangerous rate," he said.

Typically, a weather alert pings people's phones in the area where there are dangerous snow squall conditions, similar to a tornado warning, Mr DeVoir said.

But the weather service could not issue a warning Monday because its radar was unable to detect the snow shower, which was below 8,000 feet and near the ground, he said.

There were also no reports of snow squalls in the morning, he added, meaning the drivers on I-81 on Monday were most likely the first ones to encounter a snow squall that day.

The weather service had warned Sunday that snow squall conditions were likely, Mr DeVoir said.

Mr Marlow, the Lavelle Volunteer Fire Co president, said that when he stood on an overpass near the interstate, he saw "a sea of crashed vehicles."

Mr Smallwood, the fire company's assistant chief, who is also a minister, said he saw a "scope of wreckage" that he hoped he would never encounter again.

He recalled how he had walked around the crash site in disbelief, seeing human remains and burned debris in the roadway.

Two hours into the rescue effort, he said, he scanned the scene and had a moment of reflection.

"For many of those victims," he said, "where their vehicle came to a rest was the last place that they would ever know in their life."