A car pile-up in Kent, England involving more than 100 vehicles left at least two dozen people with injuries on Thursday morning. While eight people were seriously injured in the pile-up, there haven’t been any reports of fatalities thus far.
The crashes occurred at both ends of Sheppey Bridge in a thick fog that left drivers with poor visibility. Some witnesses reported of other motorists driving recklessly in the fog, which they say contributed to the massive pile-up that closed the bridge for nine hours. Kent Online has photos of the crashes. From the number of mangled cars, it’s hard to believe that injuries weren’t more serious, something Kent Police Chief Inspector Andy Reeves calls “miraculous.” Reeves also calls the amount of damage in the pile-up “the most significant incident I have been to in over 20 years of policing.”
Motorist Martin Stammers described the scene on the bridge as “horrific” and said that “all you could hear was cars crashing.” The crashes were estimated to have lasted for approximately 10 minutes. More than 30 emergency vehicles responded to the wreck, and firefighters had to cut several people out of their vehicles and take them for treatment at nearby hospitals.
According to witness Chris Buckingham, another motorist is at least partly responsible for the lack of more serious injuries or deaths. Buckingham said a man used his truck to block off the bridge entrance to keep more cars from piling up. “Whoever that guy is I’d like to shake his hand because he’s probably saved lives today,” Buckingham said.
The hero motorist hasn’t been identified, but there is no doubt that his quick thinking kept the situation from being worse. Not only did blocking off the bridge keep more cars from wrecking, it also helped emergency responders access crash victims more quickly.
View footage of the pile-up below.
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