Illinois dust storm blinds drivers: 6 die in crashes
Wednesday, 3 May 2023
ILLINOIS, May 02 (Reuters): A dust storm that cut visibility to near zero on Monday triggered a series of chain-reaction crashes involving dozens of vehicles on an Illinois highway, killing six people and injuring at least two dozen others, authorities said.
Roughly 40 to 60 passenger cars and 30 commercial vehicles, including numerous tractor-trailer trucks, were involved in the pileup around 11 am CT (1200 ET) on Interstate 55 in southern Illinois, state police said in a news release.
Two of the big-rig trucks caught fire as a result. The crashes occurred on both sides of I-55 along a 2-mile stretch of the highway near the town of Farmersville, about 200 miles (320 km) southwest of Chicago, police said.