‘Absolute carnage and destruction’

At least three dead in highway pileup that sent drivers running

Ontario Provincial Police say at least three people have died in a 14-vehicle pileup that sent a wave of flames down a highway north of Toronto and saw motorists run for their lives.

Officers are continuing to comb through the wreckage in search of possible victims, a task they say is proving difficult given the extent of the damage.

Police say the Tuesday night crash, which involved at least two fuel tankers, spilled thousands of litres of fuel on Highway 400 south of Barrie, Ont., and triggered a massive fireball.

The names of the deceased have not yet been released and police have said the highway will remain closed until all have been identified and their next of kin has been notified.

Police have also said the highway may need to be repaired before traffic can resume.

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt described the scene as “apocalyptical.”

“There are cars everywhere, twisted transport trucks, destroyed vehicles, metal that is unrecognizable as to whether or not it is a vehicle at all or not. And that’s why we’re still looking to determine any other victims that may be inside the vehicles, which we haven’t been able to ascertain at this point,” Schmidt told reporters at the scene. “The damage to those involved vehicles is absolutely catastrophic and I can’t tell you if those people got out, if they’re still inside the vehicles.”

Schmidt said there’s going to be a lot of work to pull the victims out of those vehicles.

“It’s absolutely devastating and beyond description,” Schmidt said, noting that first responders were shocked by what they found when they arrived. “It’s one of the worst crashes I’ve ever seen in terms of absolute carnage and destruction,” he said.

Luba Zariczny, 25, said she felt the heat from the flames from the other side of the highway as she drove past the crash on her way home to Mississauga, Ont. She pulled over about 100 metres away and shot video on her phone that shows towering flames and heavy black smoke.

“I felt a lot of heat coming off it and just a lot of cars burnt up and people just off to the side. It looked like some people tried to reverse back and then there was other cars that I could see emergency lights on so they just literally left their cars and ran,” she said.

“The flames is what kind of freaked me out,” she said. “I automatically assumed that there was definitely casualties in there, like fatalities. Just seeing how on a big scale it was, it gets you a little bit.”