Six people were killed in a pile-up caused by a sandstorm in the United States on Monday. More than 30 injured were taken to hospitals, according to the Illinois state police. Television footage showed a picture of the devastation, with dozens of wrecked cars, including trucks, smoldering and wedged together. Some vehicles came to a stop at the side of the road. A thick, earth-colored layer of dust lay over everything.
The pile-up happened in the morning (local time) on the freeway between Saint-Louis and Chicago, near the town of Farmersville. It extended over a length of three kilometers in both directions. Two articulated lorries caught fire in the accident, the police said. A total of around 30 trucks and 40 to 60 cars were involved in the collision.
The many rear-end collisions are due to the fact that strong winds have blown the dust from fields in the direction of the highway and have completely blinded drivers, the authorities said.
