Several have been killed and six have been taken to hospital after a tractor-trailer careened out of control into several other vehicles on a Colorado highway and left several vehicles on fire Thursday evening, police said.
According to Lakewood Colorado police, 12 cars and 3 tractor trailers were involved in the crash, Ty Countryman, a spokesman for the police department in Lakewood, Colorado, told reporters.
“The vehicle came down and ended up colliding with slower traffic, causing a very big chain-reaction crash that also ignited and started a fire,” Countryman said, adding that six other people injured in the crash were taken to local hospitals.
Video of the accident shows a fiery scene with many kinds of vehicles appearing to be involved in the accident, including a tractor trailer. Thick wafts of black smoke billowed out from the area.
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A stretch of Interstate 70, a major east-west highway route that runs through Denver into the mountains, was closed in both directions for several hours. Countrymen said engineers from the state Transportation Department were inspecting the overpass bridge for possible structural damage from the fire.
WATCH: Aftermath of fiery Colorado crash revealed by dawn
Investigators are looking at whether the truck lost its cargo, experienced brake failure or had some other mechanical issue, he said. It was not immediately clear which vehicle accounted for the fatality, Countryman said.
–With a file from Reuters.
WATCH: Massive crash ignites in in Denver, Colo. Thursday evening.
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