At least seven people died yesterday in a mass pileup in dense fog involving a total of 158 vehicles in the US state of Louisiana. At least 25 other people were injured, some of them seriously.
They were taken to hospitals after the pileup west of New Orleans, state police said. It is possible that more deaths will be found.
Part of the crash site on Interstate 55 caught fire, in part because a tanker truck loaded with a dangerous liquid caught fire. Once the vehicle is recovered, the situation can be better assessed.
Photos released by police show a debris field of destroyed cars pushed into each other on both sides of the road. The stretch of highway passes between Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain. According to CNN, meteorologists spoke of a “super fog” that seriously impaired visibility.