DEADLY (3 DEAD
AND 30 INJURED) 18-VEHICLE PILEUP ON I-80, PA NEAR CLARION AMID WHITEOUT;
VICTIMS WERE HIT BY OTHER VEHICLES WHEN THEY EXITED THEIR OWN VEHICLES
A deadly pileup on Interstate 80 near Clarion claimed
three lives, and left dozens more seriously injured.
17 cars were in a jumbled mass on the roadway in the
Westbound lane of I-80 after slick conditions caused chaos around 1:30
this afternoon, according to emergency management authorities in Clarion.
The pileup included 8 tractor trailers and 9 other
vehicles.
It took about two and a half hours for responders to
transport all the patients to various hospitals.
Vern Smith, Director of Emergency Services for Clarion
County, spoke to CBS affiliate KDKA in Pittsburgh by phone in
the hours after the crash.
"At the time of the crash (conditions) were
extremely white, snow blizzard coming down, we had two squalls that came
through the county which made visibility... very difficult for transportation
throughout the county," Smith said.
Traffic was detoured off of I-80 at exit 70 –
Strattanville to Route 322 West to Clarion.
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A blinding whiteout yesterday in western Pennsylvania
sparked an 18-vehicle pileup that cost three people their lives and left dozens
injured.
But there may be a life-saving lesson in all the
winter-caused carnage.
According to Pa. state police near Clarion, at least two
of the victims died after exiting their vehicles at the scene and then being
struck by oncoming vehicles.
Thus, the moral of this tragic story may be to stay in
one's car, if at all possible.
Philly.com reports that two
people died at the scene on Interstate 80 and a third en route to a hospital.
In all, Nine trucks, several of them tractor-trailers,
and nine cars were involved in the crash that occurred at 1:40 p.m. yesterday
in the westbound lanes of I-80 in Clarion Township, state police tell the
website.
"There was a whiteout. There was very heavy snow at
the time with visibility virtually zero," Clarion County Emergency
Services director Vern Smith told Philly.com.
