Three people were killed and 9 others were injured in an early morning pileup in the westbound lanes of Interstate 16, between mile marker 34 and mile marker 37, in Laurens County, Georgia.
According to the Georgia State Patrol, 20 cars and 7 trucks were involved in the pileup. The crash occurred at approximately 8:12 a.m.
An empty tanker involved in the accident exploded during the crash, NBC 41 reported, and smoke from the burning wreckage could be seen for miles.
The Georgia State Police said in a statement, “Preliminary indication is that the events began with a chain-reaction crash. As other vehicles approached the first crash, separate chain-reaction crashes then occurred.”
More than 100 first responders from three counties assisted at the wreck. Those injured were transported to Fairview Park Hospital in Dublin.