POTTSVILLE, Pa. (Washington Insider Magazine) – In a snow squall on an icy highway in Pennsylvania on Monday, trailers, tractors, and other vehicles collided, resulting in a pileup which killed at least 3 people and wounded over a dozen others.
According to ABC NEWS, footage from the collision on Interstate 81 shows drivers and passengers crowding the icy road and scrambling out of the way as a cascade of collisions unfolds with many vehicles crashing in less than a minute.
The Schuylkill Medical examiner, Dr. David J. Moylan said 3 deaths had been reported by late afternoon, and the number might grow since rescuers were delayed by still-burning fires.
In one video clip, an out-of-control trailer-tractor smashed into a massive dump truck, flipping it almost 180 degrees, another large vehicle caught fire and released black smoke into the air, and an SUV collided with a passenger vehicle, spinning it narrowly past a man standing on the shoulder in fog and snow.
The incident in northeast Pennsylvania occurred at 10:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Schuylkill County Office of Emergency Management. Officials suspect a snow squall impaired visibility and led to the collision, according to John Blickley, the department’s deputy emergency management coordinator.
The number of vehicles involved was estimated to be between 40 and 60 by the emergency management agency and state police, including several tractor trailers. According to Blickley, roughly 20 individuals were transported to nearby hospitals by emergency services from four separate counties. When emergency personnel came, 3 tractor trailers transporting undetermined cargo were on fire, as were several smaller vehicles, he added.
Since a fire was still blazing amid a number of wrecked vehicles and cars, Pennsylvania State Authorities Trooper David Beohm stated Monday afternoon that authorities hadn’t been able to investigate yet.
When the snow storm hit, the roadway was completely blanketed in snow, according to Boehm.
The “walking wounded” and individuals whose vehicles were involved in the crash were taken to a Wegmans distribution center in an industrial park located near the collision, he stated, and a reunification center had already been set up at the Goodwill Fire Company No. 1 in Minersville for individuals to meet friends or family and arrange accommodations.
“Numerous brief heavy snow squalls with very poor visibility,” the National Weather Service had cautioned.
Mike Colbert, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in State College, stated the weather service began releasing snow squall alerts a few years ago, adding that pileups like the ones recorded were the reason for it.
