Interstate 78 reopens in Pennsylvania following pileup that killed 3
A central Pennsylvania interstate has reopened a day after a pileup involving dozens of vehicles that killed three people and sent dozens to hospitals.
State police in Lebanon County said I-78 reopened in both directions at about 7 a.m. Sunday. Police said more than 40 people were transported to hospitals following the 9:45 a.m. Saturday crash involving at least 50 commercial and private vehicles in Bethel Township.
The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across three traffic lanes and into the snow-covered median about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia. Penn State Hershey Medical Center said three of the 10 patients brought to the hospital were in critical condition.Trooper Adam Reed said investigators believe that "passing snow squalls played a role in causing the crash."
A bus carrying the men's basketball team from Penn State Lehigh Valley was heading west to a game near Pittsburgh when visibility diminished and a FedEx truck in front it started to swerve, said Kenny Leger, a sophomore team member from Orlando, Fla. 3 dead, scores hospitalized after Pennsylvania pileup involving 50 vehicles
"I heard the bus driver yell 'hold on'" before the bus was hit in the rear by a tractor-trailer, causing many students to tumble from their seats, said Leger, who was in the back of the bus and hurt his wrist when he was thrust forward. Leger said he and two other players got out of the bus to see if they could help. A tangle of vehicles littered the road as cars were sandwiched between jack-knifed trucks.
The Penn State students were able to free a driver in one car but not a passenger who was trapped in the back seat with what appeared to be a broken leg, Leger said. Hearing a cry for help, Leger came upon a man pinned under a vehicle. Futilely he tried to lift the vehicle, he said, which would have been impossible even if he hadn't injured his wrist.
"I wish I could have helped," said Leger, tearing up as he recalled the encounter. "He was calling out for help but I couldn't do anything." No one on the Penn State bus was seriously injured, the university said in a news release. A counselor met with students at the hospital, said Leger, who was still visibly shaken, eight hours after the accident.
Leger said the weather changed dramatically, going from whiteout to perfectly clear in five minutes.
James Steffy, who lives near the interstate, told WHP-TV that the crash "sounded like two bombs went off." "We thought it was thunderclouds, and my wife ran up over the hill and saw the accident," he said.
