A massive traffic jam of vehicles on a Southern California highway has left two people dead and nine injured, authorities say
BAKERSFIELD, California — Two people were killed and nine others injured in a crash involving dozens of vehicles along a foggy stretch of Interstate 5 in Southern California.
Authorities say the pileup involving 35 cars happened around 7:30 a.m. Saturday west of Bakersfield. Kern County Fire Department spokesman Jim Calhoun told reporters that visibility was about 10 feet when crews arrived at the “chaotic” scene.
The crash, spread over about half a mile (0.80 kilometers), involved 17 passenger vehicles and 18 big rigs. Two people were pronounced dead at the scene and nine others were hospitalized with minor injuries, authorities said.
βIt was quite chaotic when I first arrived on scene, it was compressed natural gas, saddle tanks on the side of some big rigs that were ruptured, so a lot of the bystanders who weren't injured were trying to help people and were in a natural gas plume , so we had to work on that first and have everyone evacuated from that area,β Calhoun told KBAK-TV on Saturday.
The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, said Saturday that southbound lanes would remain closed overnight while crews cleared debris and determined an official cause of the crash.
A message left with Caltrans on Sunday was not immediately returned.