At least 10 people were killed Sunday when a half dozen tractor-trailers and five cars created a pileup in Florida after smoke and fog put highway visibility at zero, according to the Associated Press.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-29/deadly-crashes-florida/52869582/1?csp=34news
The collisions took place on Interstate 75 south of Gainesville, on a part of the highway that had temporarily been closed because of smoke from a brush fire and fog, which was impacting driver visibility. Even after the accident, authorities were having difficulty recovering victims because of the visibility issue, according to AP, and had to follow the pleas and cries of the injured to find them.
In addition to the dead, at least 18 people were hurt in the pileup, AP reported.
The wire service said that the accident scene was strewn with burned-up vehicles, with cars having crashed into some of the large trucks. It was apparently a horrifying scene, with one tractor-trailer burned to its metal frame, the rubber on vehicle tires totally melted away, and bodies remaining in some cars, according to AP.
One witness told AP that he had seen one man’s car hit and pushed beneath a tractor-trailer in front of it, crushing the car.
Authorities had closed Interstate 75 because of smoke from a brush fire that had been burning since Saturday, but reopened it when highway visibility had improved, according to AP.