At Least Three Dead and Dozens Injured in Northeast Pileups
Freezing rain and icy roads contributed to several large pileups and fatal accidents across the northeast Sunday, leaving at least five motorists dead and dozens more injured.
In Pennsylvania, two fatal accidents shut down traffic for hours. According to the AP, one man was fatally struck getting out of his disabled car on Interstate 76 early Sunday morning. The accident reportedly led to a 60-car pileup that also left around 30 people injured.
JUST IN: Man killed in massive I-76 pileup ID'd as 31-year-old Eric Blau of Philadelphia: http://t.co/tgJwpFREeq pic.twitter.com/nAhnt8zxEi
— NBC10 Philadelphia (@NBCPhiladelphia) January 18, 2015
The crash shut down the highway for "much of the day," the AP reports. Not long after, a fatal 15-car pileup reportedly shut down a second, nearby interstate.
Police in neighboring Delaware County said Thomas Brennan of Lansdale and Jason Anderson of Dover, Delaware were killed when their vehicles hit a tractor-trailer that that lost control due to ice in the southbound lanes of Interstate 476. Police said 15 vehicles were involved in that crash and an ensuing accident, which injured five more people, one seriously.
http://t.co/wE2PmY9UMG Tractor-Trailer Crash Kills Two, Closes I-476 #PHILLYnow pic.twitter.com/xgSdzaGKvC
— PHILLYnow (@PHILLYnowAPP) January 18, 2015
2 killed in crash on I 476 in Broomall. Several cars wedged under tractor trailer. @FOX29philly pic.twitter.com/E8gWRnEAMS
— Matt Toal (@MattToal) January 18, 2015
In Pike County, PA, a fourth driver was killed when his car reportedly flipped over on an icy road, throwing him into the road, where he was hit by a commercial vehicle. And an 88-year-old woman in New Haven, Connecticut also died Sunday, FOX reports, when she struck a utility pole driving in "slippery conditions."
Rt:KallMeKG: Multiple vehicles in crash on I-95 in #NewLondon, CT near exit 83. #Ice #Weather. Via @Local1522 pic.twitter.com/OAMBk908To
— Malini Basu (@MaliniKHOU) January 18, 2015
In New Jersey, emergency dispatchers reportedly logged an additional 460 non-fatal accidents Sunday.