A massive pile-up involving 158 vehicles near New Orleans resulted in at least seven fatalities as a dense “super fog” combined with fumes from marsh fires to severely limit visibility for commuters on Monday.
The accident occurred on Interstate 55 in St John the Baptist Parish, leaving 25 people injured, and authorities warned that the death toll might increase.
Some vehicles caught fire and were abandoned, leaving a trail of burnt wreckage and twisted metal.
The motorway is expected to remain closed until at least midday on Tuesday. Lt. Melissa Matey stated that a portion of the crash scene caught fire shortly after the initial incident, and a tanker truck carrying a hazardous liquid is being offloaded due to a compromised tank/trailer.
In one instance, a car veered off the road and into the water, but the driver was safely rescued.
Mike Tregre, the sheriff of St John the Baptist, reported that around 100 people were stranded, and school buses were being used to transport them to their destinations.
A witness, Clarencia Patterson Reed, described a chaotic scene with vehicles colliding for around 30 minutes.
She managed to avoid hitting the car in front of her, but the cars behind her began crashing into her vehicle.
The National Weather Service in New Orleans referred to the weather event as a “super fog” and cautioned that similarly hazardous weather conditions could reoccur later in the week.
This super fog is formed when a combination of smoke and moisture from smoldering vegetation mixes with cooler air, as described on their website.
Source-BBC
