Alalam America
The most serious accident involving 55 vehicles occurred around 3:30 am Saturday on the Interstate 95 highway in Baltimore after a tanker tractor trailer went off the road and burst into flames.
The deadly crash, in which the tanker fell from a bridge and exploded on CSX Transportation railroad tracks below, killed two people and injured 15 others, the local daily Baltimore Sun reported citing Maryland Transportation Authority Police.
The crash was one of “hundreds of accidents” caused by an icy weather system that grounded hundreds of flights and cut off power to thousands of homes throughout the region.
A second accident on the same highway occurred at about 5 am, killing yet another traveler, while a 15-vehicle pile-up on the Baltimore beltway closed the inner loop of the roadway for hours, the report added, quoting local officials.
In the neighboring state of Virginia, state police officials confirmed that a 23-vehicle accident involving two tractor trailers occurred on the Washington Beltway at 5:12 am, causing the death of at least one traveler and sending four people to local hospitals.
Virginia State Police were also investigating 31 other traffic crashes across the Northern Virginia region, according to local press reports that further pointed to road closures and heavy traffic congestion and delays in the area due to icy road conditions.
In Maryland, meanwhile, reports indicated that multiple accidents on I-95 highway outside of Baltimore have turned the major, multi-lane freeway into a parking lot in both directions, Press TV reported.
212