100-plus vehicle pile-up leaves nearly 70 hurt in Britain

LONDON

A police officer stands amongst the wreckage of some of the 100 vehicles involved in multiple collisions, which took place in dense fog during the morning rush hour, on the Sheppey Bridge in Kent, east of London, September 5, 2013. REUTERS photo

Over 100 vehicles were involved yesterday in a collision in thick fog on a bridge in southeast England, leaving eight people seriously injured and 60 with minor injuries, police said.
 
Eyewitnesses at the scene 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 to the crash on the London-bound carriageway of the four-lane highway on the Sheppey Crossing road bridge, which connects the Isle of Shephpey 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.
 
A police spokeswoman said: “The latest is there are eight people with serious injuries, but they are not life threatening. “In addition there are 60 people with less serious injuries.” Police confirmed there had been no fatalities in the incident. They 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.”