VIDEO: At least seven people were killed Monday in a slew of crashes along Interstate 55 in Louisiana’s St. John the Baptist Parish that involved at least 158 vehicles, state police say.
More than 25 people were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical, Louisiana State Police said in an evening news release. And many victims sought medical help on their own, authorities said.
Meteorologists earlier said “super fog” had heavily impacted the area, just west of New Orleans, around the time of the pileups. Super fog is a thick fog that develops in damp, smoky conditions and can send visibilities plummeting to less than 10 feet, according to the National Weather Service. Some of the vehicles caught on fire after the initial crash, authorities said.