MIAMI, Okla. (AP) – A tractor-trailer slammed into a line of cars stopped on a northeast Oklahoma turnpike Friday afternoon, killing at least eight people, authorities said.
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said traffic was stopped on the Will Rogers Turnpike northeast of Miami because of an earlier crash when the big rig slammed into at least three cars, which then crashed into more vehicles.
Brown feared that rescue crews might find more bodies as they worked to get to an automobile pinned under the semitrailer.
“It looks like a war zone,” he said. “There’s mangled metal everywhere. There’s debris, fluids, dead bodies.”
Investigators don’t believe the driver of the tractor-trailer tried to stop before the crash, Brown said. The truck driver was not among those killed.
Eastbound lanes of the turnpike were initially closed after the accident, which occurred shortly about 1 p.m. near the border with Missouri and Kansas. Stalled traffic baked in 100-degree temperatures and emergency crews delivered water to some stranded motorists.
Shortly after 5 p.m. one eastbound lane was opened and traffic slowly began to move.
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