2 die in pileup on I-80 in Pa.

Associated Press

CLARION, Pa.

Authorities say two people died in a highway pileup in whiteout conditions in western Pennsylvania while a third death occurred in an unrelated crash.

Officials say about 30 people also were injured in the 18-vehicle pileup Wednesday afternoon on Interstate 80 in Clarion Township.

The westbound crash involved tractor-trailers, a tanker and nine passenger vehicles.

Officials say a snow squall caused whiteout conditions.

Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer describes the crash scene as “carnage, [with] metal everywhere.”

Shaffer identifies one of those killed as 35-year-old Timothy Floravit of Beaver Falls. He believes Floravit died of internal injuries from the crash but had left his car to look for his ejected children. They were found unharmed.

State police say the other person killed was struck after leaving a vehicle.

Nine trucks, several of them tractor-trailers, and nine cars were involved in the crash that occurred at 1:40 p.m. in the westbound lanes of I-80 in Clarion Township, state police said.

“There was a whiteout. There was very heavy snow at the time with visibility virtually zero,” Clarion County Emergency Services director Vern Smith said.

The pileup occurred about a mile east of the New Bethlehem-Clarion exit. At least one of the trucks was carrying hazardous material, but no leaks were found, Smith said.

The National Weather Service was issuing warnings about lake-effect snow squalls in the area Wednesday afternoon. The squalls were drifting southwest from Lake Erie.