At least 3 dead in massive pileup on Detroit freeway

Jan. 31, 2013: A multi-vehicle accident on south bound I-75 near Springwells, Mi., killed at least three people in Detroit. The crash involved at least two dozen vehicles including tractor-trailers. (AP/Detroit Free Press)

DETROIT – Blinding snow squalls, high winds and a slick highway led to a mile-long series of crashes in Detroit that left at least three people dead, including a 7-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl.

Michigan State Police Lt. Michael Shaw said visibility was extremely poor when the mass of crashes happened on Interstate 75 on the southwest side of the city. At least 13 people were rushed to hospitals, and others were treated at the scene, Shaw said.

SUVs with smashed front ends and cars with doors hanging open sat scattered across the debris-littered highway, some crunched against jackknifed tractor-trailers and tankers. Rescue crews went vehicle to vehicle in the search for survivors and to provide aid. About 30 vehicles were involved in the accident.

Shaw said the two children who were killed are believed to be siblings, and their parents were hurt in the wreck. He said the boy died at the scene, and the girl died at a local hospital.

Shaw said the family is believed to be from Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River in Canada. None of the victims' names has been released.

A similar pileup west of Indianapolis involving more than 40 vehicles closed Interstate 70 in both directions. There was no immediate word on injuries, and the roadway was expected to be closed for several hours.

In Detroit, the pileups were along a stretch of busy freeway that cuts through a heavily industrialized part of the city and nearby communities. Semi-trailers and tankers dominate the interstate, some hauling loads and liquids to a nearby refinery and steel companies.

Motorists and passengers who were able to climb out of their vehicles huddled together on the side of the road, some visibly distraught, others looking dazed. A man and woman hugged under the gray, cloud-filled skies, a pair of suitcases next to them and a bumper on the ground behind.

Conditions went from "clear to total whiteout in a matter of seconds," Shaw said. "All of a sudden, they couldn't see anymore."

The bad weather also is being blamed for at least two other pileups in Michigan. U.S. 23 in Grand Blanc Township near Flint was closed after more than 20 vehicles crashed during a sudden snow squall. In southwest Michigan, eight tractor-trailers and six cars crashed on I-94, closing the westbound lanes to traffic at Paw Paw in Van Buren County.

In Detroit, scores of vehicles that escaped damage were trapped on the freeway behind the accident scene for hours. Both directions of I-75 were reopened by mid-afternoon.

Greg Galuszka was driving a fuel truck along I-75 when the white-out conditions quickly materialized.

"I looked on my driver's side mirror, and I could see the trucks piling up back there," Galuszka said, pointing to a mass of twisted metal where vehicles had smashed into each other a short time earlier.

"Then, when I looked in my passenger side (mirror), is when I saw the steel hauler coming up," he said. "I just said my prayers from there and said, `Please don't hit me."'

Phillip Bost was driving a semi-truck loaded with auto parts when the snow squall hit. Bost said he rushed to help the injured when alerted by the terrific sound of the crashes.

"I heard booms and bangs behind me. Boom, boom, boom, boom," said Bost of Ypsilanti.

There were "people bleeding, people limping, people shaken up. It was a bad ordeal," he recalled several hours later. "I'm quite shaken up."

Shaw said many people had to be pulled from their vehicles. Numerous fire engines and ambulances were at the scene.

The crash happened as snow and strong blustery winds reduced visibility across southeastern Michigan, said Bryan Tilley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oakland County's White Lake Township.

"There was a pattern of snow showers moving through the area in the midmorning hours," Tilley said. Nearby Detroit Metropolitan Airport had west winds at 20 miles per hour, with gusts to 33 mph around the time of the crash. The temperature of 24 degrees was about 30 degrees colder than a day before.

The crash happened near an elevated stretch of expressway where the road surface can cool quickly and make driving hazardous, Tilley said.

Lisa Czarnecki said she hurried to the crash scene from her office in downtown Detroit after her husband, Ken, called to say he had been involved in the crashes. Ken was driving at about 30 miles per hour when the vehicles in front of him suddenly stopped but he wasn't able to stop too, leaving "the front of his car under that white semi," she said, pointing to the highway.

"After I identified the car to one of the (emergency) workers, I asked them to go tap on the window and ask him to wave out the door," Lisa Czarnecki said. "They managed to get him out of the vehicle and he stood up and waved."