29 vehicles taken from fatal pileup


At the fire’s worst, flames shot out of both ends of the tunnel. Three people died.

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters finished removing charred debris Sunday from a freeway tunnel where three people died in a fiery, 29-vehicle pileup that could keep a major interstate shut down for days.

Investigators determined 28 commercial vehicles and one passenger vehicle were involved in the crash late Friday that killed three people and injured at least 10, Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said.

The search of the debris ended Sunday morning and confirmed no more fatalities.

With the large numbers of vehicles trapped inside the tunnel, “there was a potential for a greater number of critical injuries, let alone fatalities,” Tripp said.

At the scene, a large front loader shoveled blackened debris into a dump truck. Investigators moved among the wreckage, examining debris and taking notes. Charred axles, wheel rims and other vehicle parts were discernible among the twisted, blackened mass of debris.

California Highway Patrol Assistant Chief Warren Stanley said authorities would finish their on-scene investigation shortly, but did not know when their findings would be released.

Officials hoped to reopen the southbound lanes of the closed freeway by Tuesday — possibly with detours around the tunnel area — with northbound lanes reopening within 24 hours after that, California Department of Transportation district director Doug Failing said.

But he could not say for sure when the freeway would open because of concerns about extensive damage to the tunnel’s walls, which broke apart because of heavy flames.

At least five big rigs burst into flames that spread to other vehicles and burned a full day after the crash on a rainy Friday night. At the height of the fire, flames shot out of both ends of the 550-foot-long tunnel, rising as high as 100 feet, firefighters said.

About 300 firefighters were fighting the fire early Saturday, and the intense heat caused concrete to crack and melt, sending chucks falling onto a road below. Small fires lingered even as debris was being removed Saturday afternoon.

The dead were two adult males and one child, Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Jason Hurd said Sunday. The bodies of one man and the child were in the cab of a truck hauling cantaloupe, which appeared to have hit a pillar outside the tunnel. The other body was found in a truck about 12 feet short of the tunnel’s exit, an official said.

The pileup in the southbound truck tunnel of Interstate 5 began about 11 p.m. Friday when two big rigs collided on the rain-slickened highway, about 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.