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At least seven killed on snowy highways in state
Saturday, December 29, 2001 By Joann Loviglio, The Associated Press
At least seven people were killed and dozens were injured yesterday in multiple-car crashes along four Pennsylvania interstates that turned treacherous from snow squalls.
Check the winter weather outlook for Western Pennsylvania.
Authorities said at least five people died and about 50 people were injured in an Interstate 80 pileup southwest of Williamsport in central Pennsylvania. Witnesses said one tanker caught fire and flames spread to other vehicles.
The crash, which happened shortly before 1 p.m. near Loganton, involved 45 passenger cars, six tractor-trailers and a tanker truck carrying powdered iron, a highly flammable material used in chemical processing, state police said.
The crashes reportedly stemmed from whiteout conditions from heavy snow squalls.
"You couldn't see in front of you, it was a whole mess of cars," Frank Valley of Massachusetts, who was involved in the wreck, told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. "You couldn't avoid it, you just had to get into the pile."
"My husband heard a bang and tried to hit his brakes," Mary Bodner of Columbus, Ohio, told the paper. "He yelled, 'Oh my God, I can't stop' and we crashed into another car. You could heard the crunching."
There was no immediate word on the extent of the injuries. Helicopters were called in to transport four of the victims to hospitals and others were taken away by ambulances.
Authorities closed I-80, one of the busiest east-west highways in the country, in both directions, but planned to reopen eastbound lanes by morning.
The accident was one of several around the region that caused lengthy delays.
At 12:45 p.m. yesterday, two cars collided on Interstate 79 near the Warrendale exit in northern Allegheny County, causing a chain-reaction accident involving 13 vehicles.
State police reported no injuries, but said the northbound lanes were closed for 90 minutes.
At least 50 vehicles were involved in another pair of accidents late yesterday afternoon near Hazleton, Luzerne County, in northeastern Pennsylvania, according to an official with the county's Emergency Management Agency.
At least one person died in each crash, both of which happened on northbound Interstate 81 and westbound I-80 just outside Hazleton.
Hundreds of cars were backed up behind each of the accident scenes.
Several tractor-trailers were involved in the I-80 crash in Luzerne County. Dozens of ambulances and fire trucks were dispatched to the scene, police said.
Several multiple-vehicle accidents caused by snow squalls shut down southbound Interstate 476 late yesterday afternoon south of Wilkes-Barre, state police said.
Staff writer Dan Gigler contributed to this report.
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