Oct 16, 2007 10:04 pm US/Pacific
Sandstorm Blamed In Deadly Accident On 14 Freeway
LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) ―
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This truck is one of several vehicles involved in the deadly pileup..
CBS
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The northbound lanes are closed between Avenue A and Avenue D.
CBS
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The smashed remains of an automobile involved in the pileup.
CBS
A blinding sandstorm that caught drivers by surprise caused a pileup Tuesday on a highway in the high desert north of Los Angeles, killing at least two people and injuring 16, authorities said.
Two victims were in critical condition after the crash that left at least a dozen vehicles scattered across the highway, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson said.
The crash was reported around 1:40 p.m. during a sandstorm whipped by winds gusting up to 55 mph, the National Weather Service said.
Eight vehicles and four big rigs were involved in the pileup, fire officials said.
A family of 11 visiting from Fortaleza, Brazil, were on their way to Las Vegas when their van crashed. Nine were injured and taken to Antelope Valley Hospital with broken arms, legs and lacerations, a family member said.
"All my family was in this van, all 11," 46-year-old Fernando Amaral Pontes said, sobbing.
Markan Rios, who was in the van, was visibly shaken as he waited next to the crumbled van for someone to take him and Pontes to the hospital.
"I couldn't see anything, it was too much and too quick," Rios said. "I was coming in and I saw the sand and we slowed down, but the truck in front of us had stalled and we couldn't stop."
The California Highway Patrol closed all northbound lanes of Highway 14, causing traffic to back up for miles.
The accident happened just west of Edwards Air Force Base at the northern edge of Los Angeles County, not far from the site of a fiery truck pileup Friday night in a tunnel on the Interstate 5 freeway. The cause of that crash, which killed three people and injured 10, is still under investigation.
Tuesday's crash left big rigs and passenger cars strewn and bent on the pavement and dirt center divider.
The weather service issued a dust storm warning for the area Tuesday afternoon, cautioning that blowing dust in the region could reduce visibility to near zero.
"It's not unheard-of for the area to experience a dust storm, but it's not an everyday type of thing," said meteorologist Jaime Meier in the weather service's Oxnard office.
Like the rest of California, the Antelope Valley has been bone-dry this year, receiving less than two inches of rain. The dryness means dirt and sand are not packed down in the ground and are more likely to swirl in the face of strong winds.
"It's just loose and is able to impact visibility just the same way as a blizzard," Meier said.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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