WOODBRIDGE, N.J. — At least two people are dead and six are injured after a fiery pile-up crash in on Route 440 in New Jersey Friday, according to police.
Reports of a multi-vehicle crash on the southbound side of Route 440, near Woodbridge Avenue, were made around 6:15 a.m.
At least seven vehicles appeared to be involved in the incident, AIR11 footage showed. Six of the vehicles remained mangled together on the roadway some two hours later, while one was stopped several yards away.
Of the seven vehicles, four were completely burned out.
Two people died as a result of the crash, New Jersey State Police officials tweeted.
Six others were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. Most of them had been released by Friday evening.
Three southbound Route 440 lanes were closed for hours after the crash, slowing the commute on Routes 440 and 287, and on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Preliminary investigation shows that speed is one of the factors of the crash. Considering the time of the day when the fiery crash happened, impaired driving could be another contributing factor.
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Two people were killed and at least five injured in a six-car crash that caused major delays Friday morning on several major New Jersey highways, State Police said.
The crash happened on Route 440 southbound before 5 a.m., just before the I-287 merge at milepost 0.2, in Edison.
At least two people suffered life-threatening injuries and later died. At least a half-dozen were transported to area hospitals.
The left and center lanes were closed in both directions, causing major delays on I-287, Route 440 and other highways that pass through the area. The delays and closures remained in place as of 11 a.m. There were major delays on the Garden State Parkway, Route 1 and the New Jersey Turnpike because of the crash. We'll have more information as it comes in.
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Two people were killed in a fiery multi-car crash on a New Jersey highway early Friday, police said.
The smash-up occurred on Route 440 near Interstate 287 in Edison around 5:45 a.m., according to a State Police spokesman. Modal TriggerThe aftermath of the car crash.PIX11
Six other people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police could not confirm how many vehicles were involved, but witness Henry Meehan, 32, of Brielle, N.J., said he saw at least six, including a Chevy Silverado. Four of the vehicles were completely burned out, PIX 11 reported.
Meehan, who was driving past the scene at the time, posted photos on Twitter of a massive blaze and a cloud of smoke rising from the mangled vehicles.
“People [were] standing to the side attempting to help but there was not much they could do prior to when cops and firefighters arrived,” Meehan told The Post.
“I’ve seen the occasional tractor-trailer on fire, but nothing like this,” he added.
Multiple lanes were closed in both directions on the highway, creating a traffic jam that backed up onto the Garden State Parkway northbound, past the Driscoll Bridge lanes for at least two miles, NJ.com reported.
The crash also jammed up southbound traffic on I-287, according to the report.