TOOELE COUNTY, Utah — One person died and 25 people were injured in a series of crashes along I-80 in Tooele County Tuesday afternoon.
Of the 25 people injured, 18 were transported to hospitals. According to Sgt. Todd Royce, Utah Highway Patrol, the 25 people injured were involved in wind-related crashes.
UHP officials said the crashes started when a semi-trailer encountered low visibility conditions and slowed down almost to a stop.
“Subsequently, other vehicles come up from behind – passenger-type vehicles – and started running in to the slower-moving traffic or the stopped traffic,” a representative for UHP said. “As this thing was unfolding, more vehicles, larger commercial-type vehicles, passenger cars, pickup trucks were coming in and they were all running into each other, unable to see anything, unable to stop.”
UHP officials also said a man in his 50s died in a crash near mile marker 68.
“The red car ran into the back of a semi that was stopped. The silver car ran into the back of that car and then was also ran into the back of by a semi, so it was basically sandwiched between stopped vehicles ahead and the semi from behind,” the UHP representative said about the fatal crash.
Due to the dangerous conditions, the Utah Department of Transportation closed westbound I-80 from milepost 99 in Tooele County to the Utah/Nevada border.
Watch FOX 13 News and fox13now.com for updates.
