Ten people were injured after dangerously thick fog caused a massive, 59-vehicle pile-up on California’s Highway 99 over the weekend, officials said.
Fifty-nine vehicles crashed on both sides of California’s State Route 99 in Tulare County, just north of Bakersfield, on Saturday morning, the California Highway Patrol in Visalia said.
The highway patrol received several calls about the pile-up just after 8 a.m. Saturday, as the massive crash stalled northbound and southbound lanes of traffic, ABC 7 Los Angeles reported.
At least 10 people were taken to the hospital for their injuries, which highway patrol officials described as “minor to moderate.”
“The carnage out there. Vehicles turned over and up on each other, under each other,” CHP officer Adrian Gonzalez told the news station.
“We had vehicle debris. We had vehicle fluid. We had involved parties that are on both shoulders, waiting for rides to get off,” Gonzalez added.
Highway patrol officials said they believe fog played a role in the pile-up, and estimated that there was between 100 to 200 feet of visibility at the time of the crashes.
Photos from the scene showed mangled cars, big rigs and trucks crashed into each other and the highway’s concrete barriers. Some images show the vehicles breaking through the barriers on the sides of the road.
The highway was closed for six hours before reopening.
No deaths were reported in the incident. However, thick fog on Highway 99 contributed to a 17-vehicle crash that killed two people earlier this month, according to ABC 7.
Highway patrol officials are urging people driving on Highway 99 to slow down to avoid accidents during foggy weather.
“It’s very important to slow your speed down,” Gonzalez said. “Not only is it going to give you time to react, but if there is an accident, it won’t be a major accident.”
Authorities are investigating the pile-up, according to the report.
