Montrose, GA – A fiery crash kills three in a 27 car highway crash that took place in Georgia. Three people were reported dead multiple crashes and tanker truck fire.
The 27 car highway pileup happened near Montrose, about 40 miles southeast of Macon. The fiery crash shut down a roughly seven mile stretch of the highway, with police forcing cars to be detoured around the area. The interstate is likely to be closed in both directions for the entire day.
The fiery crash was actually composed of four separate crashes involving six commercial vehicles and an empty petroleum tanker truck, which ruptured and caught fire. At least six vehicle were still on fire when rescue crews arrived. Earlier in the morning it was reported by Cobb county police that 12 people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, but now the number reported has been changed to only nine.
According to Time , lingering fog in the area might have been a possible cause of the fiery crash:
“It wasn’t known what caused the wrecks, but the area was under a dense fog advisory at the time, said Laura Belanger, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City. In some areas, visibility was only a quarter-mile or less, Belanger said.”
Martha Strickland of Dublin told the Associated Press that she and her daughter drove through the accident area around 8:30 AM on the eastbound side of I-16, which was clear but clouded with smoke:
“If only three people died, it will be a miracle. It was just destruction. It was like a war zone.”
As the fiery crash kills three, emergency responders are still reportedly working to extinguish a fire involving the tanker truck.