3 dead after snow squall causes 60 vehicles to collide on Pennsylvania highway

At least three people were killed and several others injured after a blinding snow squall led to a multi-vehicle pileup on an Interstate highway in the US state of Pennsylvania on Monday, according to the Associated Press. Police said the number of vehicles involved in the collision on the highway ranged between 50 and 60, including trucks, tractor-trailers and cars. A video posted on YouTube shows vehicles crashing into each other after losing control on the snowy road. Drivers and passengers are seen getting off the interstate as a cascade of crashes unfolds along the hilly route. Some vehicles also caught fire after the crash, which was later extinguished. The pileup happened at around 10:30 am on Monday due to the near-zero visibility caused by the snow squall, officials said.  

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation wrote in a tweet Monday morning that all lanes of the highway were closed near the crash. Mike Moye was one of those caught up in the crash and captured video of the mayhem. He told CNN he was driving on I-81 when the snow and fog made it difficult to see the road, so he pulled his Dodge Charger over to the side of the highway. "I thought it was going to be okay. I thought the cars in the back would know to slow down but no one slowed down. They just kept piling up," he told CNN. Moye got out of his car and walked off the road and began filming as a series of cars and trucks skidded down the road and slammed into the backs of other vehicles. A search and rescue operation is underway and those injured in the crash have been admitted to the hospital for treatment, officials said, adding that this was the second large pileup in a little over a month in Schuylkill County. The National Weather Service had warned of "numerous brief heavy snow squalls with very poor visibility" in the region.