Two people killed in 40-vehicle crash

January 20, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

MYERSVILLE, Md. (AP) — A pileup of 35 cars and five tractor-trailers on a snowy Maryland highway killed two people Monday and seriously injured at least a dozen, state police said.

Snow was at least partly to blame for the 12:30 p.m. crash on Interstate 70 near South Mountain in northwestern Maryland, said State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo. An inch-and-a-half of snow quickly fell around the same time as the pileup.

Twelve seriously injured people were taken to Washington County Hospital, Russo said.

Seventy-one people, including infants and the elderly, were taken to a Red Cross shelter in Washington County, said Julie Barr-Strasburg, executive director of the county’s Red Cross chapter.