ITALY: At least 14 people were killed and about 80 injured in a massive traffic pile-up involving 200 vehicles on a northern Italian highway shrouded in thick fog, police said yesterday.
The collision of cars and trucks going in both directions on the motorway, which runs between the north-eastern cities of Trieste and Venice, was one of Italy's worst road accidents.
"The number of injured at the moment is 84, four or five of which are in a serious condition," a policeman told Reuters.
The accident stretched for four km along the highway. Television pictures showed cranes and tow trucks dragging mangled cars away as 50 firefighters tried to rescue drivers.
"We could feel the vehicles stacking up behind us. I got out and saw a father stuck in his car. We tried to pull him out but it was impossible," one survivor told Italian television.
Traffic police said a truck carrying hydrogen had been caught up in the collision, as well as a coach carrying schoolchildren. "We were afraid that some trucks would explode so we tried to escape as quickly as we could," another survivor said. - (Reuters)