A sand or dust storm in Utah on Sunday evening caused several vehicles to crash due to poor visibility, killing seven people and leaving many others with serious injuries, authorities said.
Officials said that many victims were rushed to local hospitals and were critically injured. While the exact number of people was not specified yet by the authorities, they noted that more fatalities might be left from the accident.
“It appears that 20 vehicles were involved in Sunday’s crashes after high winds caused a sand or dust storm and impaired visibility on the roadway,” according to the official release. “The Utah Highway Patrol summoned troopers from Richfield and Beaver to assist. Multiple ground and air ambulances also responded to transport victims.”
Several tractor-trailers and many wrecked passenger vehicles scattered on the road, along with the debris left from the collision, the images from the accident site showed. One of the vehicles seemed to have its doors detached due to the crash.
According to officials, both directions of the road were closed by the DPS after the crash which happened just before 5 p.m.
CNN Meteorologist Gene Norman reported that a strong thunderstorm had occurred southeast of Kanosh at around 4:30 p.m. As the storm has decayed, strong winds have occurred.
The release has not identified the victims yet as it still needs to wait for 24 hours after their families were informed, CNN reported.
Kanosh is located about 155 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
