Deadly Scene on Missouri Interstate Like a 'War Movie'

Crashes happened in thick fog on I-57
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 18, 2022 4:24 AM CDT
6 Killed in Chain-Reaction Crashes on Missouri Interstate
The Cape Girardeau Fire Department shared this photo of emergency workers at the scene.   (Cape Girardeau Fire Department)

Chain-reaction collisions involving dozens of vehicles on a foggy interstate in southeast Missouri caused at least six deaths and multiple injuries, and part of the highway will be closed until further notice, officials say. The collisions began about 8am on Interstate 57 as thick fog enveloped the Charleston area, about 150 miles south of St. Louis. Mississippi County Coroner Terry Parker confirmed the deaths and said a mobile morgue has been set up at a funeral home in Charleston, KFVS-TV reports

Officials did not have an estimate of how many people were injured. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Jeff Kinder said about 50 vehicles were involved, including several semitrailer trucks, the AP reports. He said some of the vehicles caught fire but that the fires were extinguished by about 4pm. The interstate was closed for about 25 miles in both directions in Mississippi County from the Missouri-Illinois border to Sikeston, Missouri. The coroner said the scene was like "one of the worse war movies, or in Chicago or St. Louis fire, something we’d maybe see on the news in a large city, but nothing of this nature in our area."

(More Missouri stories.)

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