I-77 Pileup Of 95 Vehicles Kills 3, Injures 25: Dense Fog On Virginia-North Carolina Border Of Interstate 77 Causes Severe Crashes
I-77 reopened early on Monday, April 1 after a series of car wrecks that resulted in a nearly 100-vehicle pileup due to foggy, mountainous conditions.
The car accidents on the Interstate 77 (I-77) highway killed three people and injured 25 others near the Virginia-North Carolina border, according to the Associated Press.
Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller stated that 95 vehicles were wrecked in 17 independent crashes within a one-mile span of I-77, near the base of Fancy Gap Mountain. The cars started crashing at around 1:15pm on Sunday, March 31, when heavy fog swept into the region.
Glen Sage of the American Red Cross office in nearby Galex, VA said, "This mountain is notorious for fog banks. They have advance signs warning people. But the problem is, people are seeing well and suddenly they're in a fog bank."
There have been six such pileups on the stretch of mountain road since 1997, according to The Roanoke Times. Two people died in crashes involving dozens of cars in 2000 and 2010, but Sunday's crash is the deadliest so far in the region.
Traffic in southwest Virginia was backed up for 8 miles after the accidents, according to State police officials.
Overhead message boards had warned drivers since 6:00 am on Sunday to slow down because of fog, Geller explained, adding that the crashes were probably caused by drivers going too fast in the dangerous conditions.
One of the biggest wrecks involved eight vehicles, Geller stated. Photos of the accident show that some of the cars caught fire. The people taken to hospitals had varied injuries, ranging from minor to critical. School busses were called in to take stranded people to shelters and hotels.
Virginia State Police 1st Sgt. Mike Musser told the Elkin Tribune, "It's the worst accident I've ever seen."
Nina Rose and her mother were driving home to Rochester, New York, when they were stopped by the pileup.
"With so much fog we didn't see much around it. As we got further up we just saw a bunch of people standing on the median, just with their kids and families all together. There were cars smashed into other cars, and cars just underneath other semi-trucks," she told Roanoke Times.
The highway was completely re-opened at around 12:00 am on Monday. Police haven't yet released the names of people killed in the pileup.