The drama took place on the freeway connecting the major cities of Saint-Louis and Chicago. Cars collided about three kilometers long.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 02/05/2023 at 09:56, updated 02/05/2023 at 09:56
A dust storm caused a massive pile-up on a highway in Illinois in the northeastern United States on Monday, May 1, killing at least six people and injuring about 30, authorities said. Images of the devastation show the smoking carcasses of dozens of vehicles, including LHVs, stacked one behind the other, other cars parked in the grass, on their sides, all in an ocher dust-saturated atmosphere. Six people died and a total of “more than 30 people” were hospitalized, local police said.
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The drama happened around 11:00 a.m. local time on Monday on the freeway connecting the major cities of Saint-Louis and Chicago. Cars collided about three kilometers long and on both sides of the road near the town of Farmersville. The injured are between 2 and 80 years old, some of them are in mortal danger. “There are about 30 commercial vehicles and 40 to 60 cars involved. This includes two articulated lorries that caught fire as a result of the accidents,” police added.
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These multiple pile-ups “are due to strong winds blowing dust from agricultural fields onto the highway, resulting in zero visibility,” the statement said. In July 2021, eight people died in a pile-up caused by a sandstorm in western Utah.