(Reuters) – Multiple people were reported killed and dozens of other people wounded on Monday in car crashes along Interstate 55 in southern Illinois during a dust storm, state police said.
Roughly 40 to 60 passenger cars and several big-rig trucks were involved in the crashes shortly after 11 a.m. CT (1200 ET), an Illinois State Police spokesman said during an afternoon press conference.
Some 30 people were transported to local hospitals with injuries, the spokesman said. Two of the trucks caught fire and it was possible one of them had exploded.
The highway remained closed in both directions several hours later.
“My team and I are closely following the devastating crash on I-55 as authorities learn more. Please be safe as this situation continues to unfold,” U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski of Illinois said on Twitter.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and Steve Gorman; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Cynthia Osterman)
