Collisions on a foggy freeway Saturday resulted in a pileup of as many as 100 vehicles and the deaths of at least two people, the California Highway Patrol said.The collisions included nine big rigs on northbound Highway 99 just south of Fresno, CHP Officer Scott Jobinger said. "It looks like we had a chain reaction crash in that fog," Jobinger said.
Rescuers extracted several people whose vehicles were pinned under tractor trailers, he said.
Paramedics transported more than three dozen people with injuries to the hospital, Fresno City Fire Department spokesman Ken Shockley said. Wrecked vehicles were scattered for at least two miles along the freeway as crews worked to clear the wreckage, he said.
Authorities said no hazardous materials appeared to have been spilled in the morning crash. That section of the freeway will remain shut down as investigators look into the cause of the crash, Jobinger said. The southbound lanes remained opened.