100-plus vehicle pile-up leaves 40 hurt in Britain

LONDON, United Kingdom – Over 100 vehicles were involved in a collision in thick fog on a bridge in southeast England on Thursday, September 5, leaving 8 people seriously injured and 30 in hospital with minor injuries.

Eyewitnesses described a mass of tangled trucks, cars, and a car transporter, while police said it was “miraculous” that no one died.

Police were called at 7:15 am (0815 GMT) to the crash on the London-bound carriageway of the four-lane highway on the Sheppey Crossing road bridge, which connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent in southeast England.

Chief Inspector Andy Reeves said he had never seen such a crash in 20 years.

“From my perspective, it’s truly miraculous. It’s very fortunate there were no fatalities.”

TV pictures showed cars queuing for miles at the scene of the accident.

Police revised the injury toll down from an earlier figure of 200.

Eyewitness Martin Stammers, 45, told the Kent Online site: “It’s horrific. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

“All you could hear was cars crashing. We got out of our car and it was eerily quiet, with visibility down to just 20 yards” or 18 metres. – Rappler.com