at least six dead in chain link collision of more than 130 vehicles on icy Texas highway

At least six people died and 65 were injured in an accident which involved more than 130 vehicles on a highway of Texas which was slippery with ice formed from an intense winter storm, authorities said.

At the scene of the chain crash, on Interstate 35 near downtown Fort Worth, dozens of freight trucks and cars were tangled It is included there were vehicles that ended up on the others.

“There were several people who were trapped inside their vehiclesand it took hydraulic rescue equipment to free them, ”said Fort Worth Fire Marshal Jim Davis.

At least 65 people sought medical treatment in hospitals and 36 of them were transported by ambulance, several seriously injured, said Matt Zavadsky, a spokesperson for MedStar, a company that provides ambulance services in the region.

The accident happened around 6 a.m., at a time when many hospital workers and members of emergency teams were on their way to work or home, and some of them were involved in the crash, including police officers, authorities reported.

Zadavsky stressed that his crews are transporting a mixture of sand and salt in ambulances, which they began to apply at the scene of the accident. At one point, one of the ambulances was hit but suffered only minor damage and its occupants were uninjured.

“The road was so treacherous because of the ice that several emergency personnel fell, ” Zavadsky said.

The storm occurred because the polar vortex – a current of air typically located above the Earth’s poles – moved near the US-Canada border, causing low temperatures further south of normal explained Steve Goss of the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman. , Oklahoma.

“As a result, we have unusually cold or out of season air circulating south through much of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains,” he said.

In Tennessee, police responded to 30 shocksAt Memphis International Airport, some flights were delayed due to rain and sleet.

In southern Indiana, schools and government offices have closed.

Meanwhile, Kentucky authorities were asking people stay at home due to winter conditions.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said state offices would be closed due to inclement weather. Declared a state of emergency, freeing up relief funds and helping agencies coordinate when responding to reports slippery roads and downed power lines.

Teams were responding to numerous calls for downed tree branches and power lines, Lexington Police said in a tweet in which they also asked people not to go out, “unless absolutely necessary “.

For its part, the National Weather Service asked Texans to stay home this Thursday after the state’s frozen roads lifted.

A combination of unstable air and cold temperatures produced freezing rain all day and night.

Source AP

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