Associated Press
CARMEL, Maine — Multiple people were injured in a major pileup involving about 30 vehicles during the Tuesday morning commute on a highway in Maine, state troopers said.
There were no fatalities, but several ambulances and a medical helicopter were dispatched to the crash site on Interstate 95 near Bangor, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Initial reports were that some motorists were blinded by the morning sun, contributing to the chain-reaction pileup as a stream of motorists headed toward Bangor, he said.
It was initially reported that up to 60 vehicles were involved, but the figure was revised downward, McCausland said.
The weather didn’t appear to be a factor in the crash, which was reported at about 7:45 a.m. There had been some slight snow that ended at midnight, hours before the pileup, the National Weather Service said.
There was a massive backup up of cars, and troopers were trying to sort out the best way to reroute the vehicles off the highway. The northbound lanes were closed for more than three hours.
Tuesday’s mass collision is not the first on the interstate in Maine. More than 30 people were injured in a pileup that involved 102 vehicles over a 4-miles stretch of I-95 during light snow in February 2015.