SB I-5 near Old River Road reopens after deadly 35-vehicle pile-up, leaves 2 dead
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/FOX58) — UPDATE: 1/7/2024 (10:20 A.M.):
Caltrans has removed the closure of the I-5 between Millux Road and Old River Road from its website. Traffic appears to be flowing.
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Saturday morning was off to a tragic start for some families traveling on the I-5 South.
Some didn't even get the chance to make it to their destination.
Officials on scene said 17 vehicles and 18 big-rigs were involved in a crash, making it a total of 35 vehicles.
CHP said 9 people saw minor to moderate injuries, and 2 people died.
"Our GPS notified us that there was an accident and so we stopped, and two minutes after we stopped, the car behind us hit us, and that's when everything just happened fast," said Yesenia Cruz, a driver involved in the crash.
CHP Buttonwillow PIO Manny Garcia says the closure of SB Interstate 5 between Millux Road and Old River Road is expected to remain closed for the rest of the day.
He said fog may have been the major cause of the accident.
"All the witnesses have fog visibility at approximately 100 feet at the time, so there was heavy fog at the time of the collision," Garcia said.
CHP added that traffic is being detoured on eastbound Highway 223 to Southbound 99 for the remainder of the day.
"Everybody just started screaming for help, just like that, and there were little kids as well crying," Cruz said.
"Yeah it was pretty chaotic when I first pulled up at the scene, it was compressed natural gas, saddle tanks on the side of some the big rigs that were ruptured, so a lot of the bystanders that weren't injured were trying to help people and were in a plume of natural gas so we had to deal with that first and get everyone evacuated from that area," said KCFD Battalion Chief, Jim Calhoun.
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Two people are dead and nine people were taken to the hospital after a multi-vehicle accident on SB Interstate 5, according to KCFD Battalion Chief Jim Calhoun.
Officials say 17 vehicles and 18 big-rigs were involved, totaling 35 involved motorists. Fog is believed to be a major cause of the accidents.
CHP Buttonwillow PIO Manny Garcia says the closure of SB Interstate 5 between Millux Road and Old River Road is expected to remain closed for the rest of the day.
Traffic is being detoured onto eastbound Highway 223 to Southbound 99.
CHP says the Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Teams (MAIT) is now helping in the investigation.
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Southbound Interstate 5 is closed between Millux Road and Old River Road due to multiple-vehicle pile up.
Caltrans District 6 said the pile up is in fog.
Southbound traffic are being detoured onto eastbound Highway 223 to Southbound 99, just north of incident.
Motorists are asked to use an alternate route.
This is a developing story.