It’s important to keep your wits about you and stay safe on the road when the weather closes in. If you don’t, then you might end up caught in a horror pile–up like the one that occurred on a Chinese highway last week.
Dozens of cars lost control and smashed into one another when a bridge in China’s Henan province was coated in a thick layer of fog. More than 100 cars smashed together when fog and slippery conditions made driving treacherous earlier this month, reports the Drive.
It’s thought the cars collided due to thick fog that hit the region, which can be particularly problematic on remote bridges. As the Drive reports:
A recent video shared by Accuweather shows roughly 100 vehicles crash into an ever-growing pileup. Even as bystanders (possibly the drivers or passengers of the already disabled cars) are frantically waving at the oncoming traffic to slow down, the opposite occurs. And one by one, crash, boom, bang.
“This multi-vehicle accident happened when visibility dropped during misty and foggy weather on a bridge along a highway in Zhengzhou, China,” said Weather Channel meteorologist Jennifer Gray. “Cars can be seen careening into other wrecked vehicles,” Gray said there were reports of injuries but no further information regarding any deaths.
To try and alert other road users to the chaos ahead, pedestrians can be seen lining the road in a video shared by Accuweather. Many onlookers attempt to wave and attract the attention of other drivers calling for them to slow, with little success.
Police report that more than 100 cars ended up caught in the crash, and several people were rushed to hospital as a result of injuries sustained in the crashes, adds the Weather Channel. There are so far no reports that anybody was killed as a result of the pile up.
Mega crashes like these are rare, but not unheard of. In fact, a worryingly similar pile-up occurred in the same Chinese province less than three years ago when more than 200 cars smashed together as a result of thick fog.
Another enormous crash hit Texas in 2021 when more than 100 cars smashed together as a result of freezing conditions and ice meant. Five people were killed in that incident.
