At least 17 people were injured after some 50 to 100 vehicles were involved in a series of crashes on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bensalem on Friday morning.Abington Hospital said 11 injured people were taken there, and five of those people were listed as trauma cases.
© AP Photo/Matt RourkeVehicles are piled up in an accident Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, in Bensalem, Pa. Traffic accidents involving multiple tractor trailers and dozens of cars have completely blocked one side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia and caused some injuries.
They are receiving EMS assistance from Montgomery and Burlington counties.
The crashes happened around 8:30 a.m. Friday near the Route 1 exit for Bensalem.
State Police Capt. Greg Bacher said on Action News that the cause of the crash appears to be weather-related, but it was not yet known exactly how it all started.
The wrecked vehicles include tractor trailers, including four that were jackknifed at the scene.
Images from Chopper 6 HD over the scene showed several collision scenes on the eastbound turnpike between the Bensalem and Willow Grove exits.
The westbound lanes were also closed by late Friday morning as rescue vehicles assembled on the highway.
© AP Photo/Matt RourkeVehicles are piled up in an accident Friday, Feb. 14, 2014, in Bensalem, Pa. Traffic accidents involving multiple tractor trailers and dozens of cars have completely blocked one side of the Pennsylvania Turnpike outside Philadelphia and caused some injuries.
"My car began spinning and then the FedEx truck slid into my car," said Tracey Wood, who was a passenger in the minivan driven by her husband, Jeff Wood.
"What saved me was the tractor trailer and the FedEx truck," Wood said. "The FedEx truck kind of blocked me from getting hit," she said live on 6abc.
"I looked over and said to Tracey, 'I think cars are spinning out in front of us,'" said Jeff Wood. "So I went to hit my brakes to stop and tried to avoid cars and before you know it we just started spinning."
People were seen getting out of and walking between the vehicles all along the closed stretch of highway.
Another witness, Kristen Good, also called in to Action News. She described the moments after the crash.
"I called my husband right away, saying 'You're not going to believe this," she said. "I said there were about 20 accidents behind me."
The accident came as two other accidents slowed traffic on other parts of the turnpike.
On the westbound side, a crash between the Willow Grove and Bensalem exits has resulted in overturned vehicles and multiple injuries.
And on the southbound side of the turnpike's Northeast Extension an accident involving several vehicles snarled traffic between the Lansdale exit and the Mid-county interchange in Plymouth Township.
Reader Comments
to our Newsletter