What to Know
At least three people died in a Pennsylvania traffic pileup involving more than 50 vehicles on Interstate 81 Monday morning, according to the coroner.Video posted on social media shows several trucks and a number of smaller vehicles were struck. The crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-81 in Schuylkill County near the Minersville exit around 10:30 a.m. Monday.The National Weather Service had warned of “numerous brief heavy snow squalls with very poor visibility.”
At least three people died in a Pennsylvania traffic pileup involving more than 50 vehicles on Interstate 81 Monday morning, according to the coroner.
The crash in northeast Pennsylvania happened around 10:30 a.m. and John Blickley, the deputy emergency management coordinator for the agency, said officials believe a snow squall clouded visibility and likely contributed to the accident. About 50 vehicles including multiple tractor-trailers were involved in the initial crash, officials said.
Blickley said emergency personnel from four different counties responded and took about 20 patients to area hospitals for treatment. Late Monday afternoon, the coroner confirmed at least three people died in the crash. Officials have not yet revealed their identities.
Blickley said three tractor-trailers carrying unknown cargo were on fire when emergency personnel responded. Smaller fires broke out in other vehicles as well but all had been brought under control, he said.
Footage uploaded to social media on Monday showed an out-of-control tractor-trailer smashing into a large dump truck, turning it nearly 180 degrees. Another large truck spewed black smoke and orange flames into the air and an SUV struck a passenger car sending the sedan spinning, narrowly missing its driver who stood on the shoulder of the highway shrouded in snow and fog.
The person who posted the video did not immediately respond to requests seeking additional information. People off camera can be heard yelling as the cascade of crashes unfolds with multiple vehicles colliding in less than a minute.
Schuylkill County’s transportation authority helped transport uninjured motorists involved in the crash to a warming center set up by the local Red Cross, where family members can connect with them or they can arrange for rides.
The National Weather Service had 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,” forecasters said, urging drivers to get off the road if possible or turn on hazard lights “and gradually slow down to avoid a chain reaction vehicular accident.”
Early Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service issued a snow squall warning for parts of central Bucks and Montgomery counties in the Philadelphia suburbs. That warning has since expired.
Another snow squall warning was issued later in the afternoon for Philadelphia Montgomery, Chester and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania as well as Camden and Gloucester counties in New Jersey until 4:15 p.m.
Mike Colbert, a forecaster with the National Weather Service office in State College, said the weather service started issuing warnings for snow squalls a few years ago, and pileups of the kind being reported were the reason they began doing so.
“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.
Blickley warned that the northbound section of the interstate would likely be closed “well into the evening” Monday as the crash investigation and clean-up continued. He also cautioned that more squall warnings are expected throughout the afternoon and asked people to be careful and pull over if needed.
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