A 27-vehicle pile-up on a British motorway sparked explosions and an inferno, leaving seven people dead and 43 injured, police said Saturday. Television pictures showed a line of cars and trucks engulfed in flames following the massive crash at around 2030 GMT Friday on the M5 motorway near Taunton, southwest England.
Blazing trucks fell onto their sides and people desperately tried to prise open the doors of cars to help trapped motorists escape in chaotic scenes after the crash, which happened in foggy and wet conditions. Witnesses said they heard explosions as vehicles went up in flames and saw debris and casualties strewn across the road. Around 50 firefighters battled to free people who were trapped in the wreckage of their vehicles on the northbound carriageway.
A long stretch of the primary route through England’s southwest remained closed. Assistant Chief Constable Anthony Bangham, of Avon and Somerset Police, said “several people” lost their lives in the crash but did not give a precise figure.
