Massive pileup closes Calif. highway

[Killer360]

FRESNO, Calif. - More than 100 cars and trucks crashed on a fog-shrouded freeway Saturday, killing at least two people and injuring dozens more, the California Highway Patrol said.

Eighteen big rigs were involved in the massive pileup on Highway 99 just south of Fresno as patches of dense fog obscured visibility on the heavily traveled roadway, CHP officials said.

"It looked like something out of a movie, walking up and seeing all the cars mangled and crushed," CHP Officer Paul Solorzano Jr. said.

A 6-year-old boy and a 28-year-old man traveling in separate vehicles were killed in the chain-reaction collisions around 7:45 a.m., he said.

"There was probably 2-foot visibility in the fog when I got here. It was really bad," said Mike Bowman, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. "It looked like chaos. Cars were backed up on top of each other."

Rescuers had to extract several people from the wreckage, and paramedics took more than three dozen patients to the hospital with injuries, Fresno Fire Department spokesman Ken Shockley said.

"Everybody was trying to miss everybody, but it was impossible not to get hit," said Cindy Ramirez, 21, of Selma, whose purple Mazda pickup truck was rear-ended. "I'm fine physically, but I keep thinking about all of the things that could have happened."

Hours after the accident, the freeway was littered with smashed cars and trucks, broken glass, auto parts and blood. A big rig carrying stacked crates of live turkeys was stranded on the normally busy highway.

Crash victims gathered on the freeway shoulder near the wreckage, waiting to be interviewed by investigators.

The freeway's northbound lanes were shut down indefinitely as investigators worked to determine the cause of the crash. Traffic backed up for miles south of the wreckage. Southbound lanes remained opened.

Thick seasonal fog known as "Tule fog" typically occurs in Central California in the late fall and winter. A stretch of the highway several miles south was the scene of an autumn 74-car pileup nearly a decade ago that left two people dead.


Source:

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071103/ap_on_re_us/freeway_pileup


Cali has sure been having a tough time lately...

[CetniK]

More than 100 cars?  Wow.  I wonder what the record is for a car pile up.

[BigAznDaddy]

wow from fires, to movie writers strike, to a car pile up. what can happen next? California separating from all the other states and drifting out to the ocean?
but dang 100 cars! thats something you would see out of Burnout

[Ergot]

wow from fires, to movie writers strike, to a car pile up. what can happen next? California separating from all the other states and drifting out to the ocean?
but dang 100 cars! thats something you would see out of Burnout

You left out the earthquakes... jeez you southern Californians sure are oblivious.

[Assault]

I can see the next California headline!

"December 21, 2012: California breaks off into the Pacific Ocean."

Nevada, here I come.

[leet_muffin]

wow from fires, to movie writers strike, to a car pile up. what can happen next? California separating from all the other states and drifting out to the ocean?
but dang 100 cars! thats something you would see out of Burnout

I support geographical secession from the USA!

[MyndFyre]

I can see the next California headline!

"December 21, 2012: California breaks off into the Pacific Ocean."

Nevada, here I come.

At this rate we won't be waiting 'til 2012....  Not for the "next" headline, anyway.