1 Disaster On the Bridge
Images from the crash are horrifying—cars are literally piled on top of each other, and many of them are severely dented and smashed up. The incident happened at around 7.40 am on December 27, and Zhengzhou traffic police say 280-290 vehicles were involved.
2 Too Scary
Dashcam footage indicates extremely poor visibility was to blame for the pileup. Motorists are seen standing by the side of the road, trying to warn oncoming traffic of the accident. “This is too scary. Full of people here, I don’t think we can get off the bridge,” one motorist says in a video clip.
3 Emergency Response ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
11 fire trucks and 66 firefighters responded to the disaster, and injured people were taken to local hospitals. Many of the injured had been trapped in their cars before emergency services turned up to rescue them. At least one person died, authorities say. 4 Fog Clears
Traffic on both sides of the bridge was halted during the rescue operation, but the northbound lane was open again by 3 pm when the fog cleared. Cars and debris were still being moved out of the southbound lane at the time.
5 Low Visibility
Local police closed down several other highways due to the fog. According to Henan’s weather service, certain areas were experiencing visibility below 650 feet on Wednesday morning. Zhengzhou authorities advise people to use alternate routes as they don’t know when regular traffic will resume.
