Fiery 400 crash ‘ apocalyptical’
COOKSTOWN — At least three people have been killed in a multivehicle pileup that sent a wave of fuel and flames rushing down a highway north of Toronto, prompting motorists to run for their lives, police said Wednesday.
Provincial police said the number of fatalities was expected to rise as first responders combed through the burned- out wreckage of some 14 vehicles.
“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,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told reporters near the scene.
“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.”
The crash took place in the northbound lanes of Highway 400 south of Barrie late Tuesday night, when police said a transport truck crashed into slowing traffic, triggering a pileup that involved at least four transport trucks and two fuel tankers that spilled thousands of litres of fuel on the road. The impact caused a fireball.
“The temperatures that were achieved in this fire are apocalyptic,” Schmidt said. “It is unbelievable to see that kind of damage and destruction from a motor vehicle collision.”
Police said the northbound lanes of the highway — between Country Road 88 and Highway 89 — would remain closed on Wednesday, adding the road may need to be repaired before traffic can resume.
The names of the victims have not been released.
On Wednesday morning, the area around the crash was littered with twisted metal, pieces of what looked like molten debris, and the shells of burned out vehicles. The highway itself was covered in soot in areas and Schmidt said molten alumin- ium from the wreckage was draining down the road.
OPP commissioner Vince Hawkes, who just days earlier had sounded the alarm about fatal collisions caused by distracted truck drivers, said the latest crash could have killed many more people.
“It’s a miracle that we don’t have 25 bodies down there,” Hawkes said, adding that he’s putting the trucking industry on notice.
Luba Zariczny, 25, said she felt the heat from the towering flames from the other side of the highway as she drove past the crash on her way home to Mississauga.
“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.
“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.”