By Tess Williams
Anchorage Daily News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Five people were injured Tuesday morning when a box truck exiting the Seward Highway in South Anchorage ran a red light, struck several vehicles and burst into flames at the O’Malley Road offramp intersection, police said.
The southbound truck struck a Toyota pickup and a Honda sedan that were westbound on O’Malley Road, then struck a Jeep Grand Wagoneer and a Nissan sedan that were eastbound, police said.
The truck caught fire when it struck the eastbound vehicles, police said. First responders were called to the scene around 7:38 a.m., and several passersby helped pull people from a vehicle, police said
“Definitely appreciate the members of the public who stopped to help — without them, it would have been difficult to get everyone out of the vehicles on time while it was on fire,” said Anchorage police Sgt. David Noll, who was at the scene.
The Anchorage Fire Department extinguished the flames, Noll said.
Five people were taken to hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
The intersection was closed for more than seven hours after the crash until about 3:15 p.m.
No charges or citations were immediately filed and a police spokeswoman said the department had no further updates by Tuesday afternoon. The investigation is ongoing.
Anchorage Daily News photojournalist Marc Lester contributed to this story.
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