Monday's pileup during a spring snow squall in Pennsylvania killed six people, injured 24 others and involved 80 vehicles, state police said Wednesday.
Three people were initially confirmed dead in the crash on Interstate 81, the Schuylkill County Coroner’s Office said Monday, and state police three more deaths in a statement Wednesday morning. Officials had emphasized that a total death toll could not be given Monday as they continued to sort through the wreckage.
The names of those killed in the crash will be released after their families are notified.
Thirty-nine commercial and 41 passenger vehicles crashed Monday, some of them catching fire, along a section of Interstate 81, police said. The roadway was partly closed.
People who were able to get out of their vehicles themselves were taken to a Wegman’s Distribution Center for triage care. Emergency medical services took 24 people directly from the scene to hospitals.
Video showed vehicles that had been pulled to the side of the road being hit by traffic as heavy fog covered the interstate. Large black smoke plumes rose from what appeared to be a vehicle on fire, according to video from a person who said they had been involved in the crash after they got out of their car.
An official cause of the pileup has not been given. The crash occurred during a late-season snowstorm that severely reduced visibility.
The scene, about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, was reopened at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.
