At least six people are dead and dozens are injured in a huge pileup on an icy Texas interstate that involved over 130 vehicles Thursday morning, officials said.
“This is a major catastrophe in our city,” said Fort Worth fire spokesman Mike Drivdahl.
It was dark and cold with freezing rain when first responders arrived at the scene after 6 a.m. on Interstate 35.
Thirty-six people were taken to hospitals, and others later sought treatment, officials said. Multiple people were trapped in vehicles, and fire crews used hydraulic rescue equipment to rescue them. Buses were called in to shelter the stranded from the cold.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody involved with this incident,” Drivdahl said.
Three Fort Worth police officers en route to work had injuries but they were not serious, and many of the victims appeared to be health care workers, officials said.
“We did see a large number of people that were victims of this accident, that were in scrubs, that had hospital IDs on,” Matt Zavadsky, spokesman for the ambulance service MedStar, said. “… in some cases, our folks would know those folks.”
Video posted on social media shows a tractor-trailer sliding at high speed into traffic. The crash led to others and sent some automobiles into the air.
Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said Thursday afternoon that 133 vehicles were involved in the accident, but also said the actual number could be different.
“It appears at this point in the investigation, which is still very preliminary, that ice was a factor,” Noakes said. He said it was a tragic day for the city.
Freezing rain and sleet overnight is the factor behind dangerous driving conditions during the height of the morning commute. Fort Worth was under a winter weather advisory through midday, according to the National Weather Service.
Throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, icy weather caused accidents overnight.
Police in nearby Arlington said they responded to 82 crashes before 9 a.m., and in Dallas, three people died and another person was taken to hospital in critical condition in two separate crashes around midnight.
