13 hospitalized after 23-car chain-reaction crash, 20 other crashes on Chesapeake Bay Bridge
By Katie Culbertson, Tommie Clark
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ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (WBAL) — It was a horrifying morning on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge for hundreds of people Saturday as 43 cars and trucks were involved in crashes, sending 13 people to hospitals.
Maryland Transportation Authority police police said it started around 8 a.m. with one crash that turned into a massive 23-vehicle chain-reaction crash on the westbound span of the bridge that took six hours to clear up.
Additionally, MDTA police said investigators believe some 20 more vehicles were involved in a series of other crashes.
When all three westbound traffic lanes were closed, east- and westbound traffic was alternating, taking turns on the eastbound span of the bridge. The westbound span reopened to traffic around 1:50 p.m.
Kent Island residents Jamie and Sharon Myrick were participating in the Super Plunge, jumping into the waters of the Chesapeake Bay to support Special Olympics Maryland, when they looked up to see trouble on the Bay Bridge.
“They stopped traffic completely, so there’s nowhere for us to go unless they let us across. You just sit there and wait until they let you pass,” Jamie Myrick said. “It doesn’t look good. They got more ambulances coming on the bridge now to take more people away. They’ve walked people off the bridge. They’ve had gurneys up the bridge. You just don’t know when it’s a situation like that.”
“For emergency services, they’re actually having to walk their stretchers onto the bridge because they can’t access it with their vehicles,” Sharon Myrick said.
Two people were taken to hospitals with serious injuries, 11 others were also taken to hospitals. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, police said.
The cause of the crashes remains under investigation.
“This fog’s so dense, people don’t pay attention, and that causes a lot of these problems,” Jamie Myrick said.
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