Allentown, PA : Three killed as winter storm wreaks havoc across region; I-95 tanker crash part of 67-vehicle pileup in city on Saturday, December 17th 2016
Icy conditions caused a deadly, 67-vehicle pileup and a fiery explosion along Interstate 95 in Baltimore on Saturday as the first significant winter storm of the season wreaked havoc across the region.
The fatal crash — captured in part by another motorist in a dramatic cellphone video — was one of hundreds of accidents in the icy weather system that grounded flights, cut power to thousands of homes and snarled traffic on one of the busiest weekends for holiday shopping of the year.
Officials reopened all lanes of I-95 late Saturday, but state police extended a travel advisory throughout the region into Sunday.
The accident on northbound I-95 between Caton Avenue and Washington Boulevard — in which a tanker carrying gasoline fell from a bridge and exploded on CSX Transportation railroad tracks below at about 5 a.m. — left two dead and nearly two dozen others injured, according to Maryland Transportation Authority Police and local hospital officials.
As of 10:30 a.m. Sunday, the University of Maryland Medical Center reported seven patients under care at Shock Trauma. Two patients were in critical condition, two in serious condition and three in fair condition, though no patients remain in the emergency department from the crash, officials said on Twitter.Another accident on the same roadway, near Eastern Avenue about 4:45 a.m., resulted in a third death after a man running from the crash site fell or jumped over the elevated highway's jersey wall to his death below, MdTA police said.
And a third accident at about 5:30 a.m. resulted in a 15-car pileup on the Baltimore beltway at Southeast Freeway, closing the inner loop for hours.
Gov. Larry Hogan offered his condolences to the families of the dead, saying the state's "entire emergency management, transportation, and law enforcement resources are fully engaged in managing this situation and are working closely with local jurisdictions to provide needed support."
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Three killed as winter storm wreaks havoc across region; I-95 tanker crash part of 67-vehicle pileup in city