Dust storm caused 21 vehicles to pile up on the Montana Highway, causing six deaths in the crash.
Dust storms triggered by wind gusts lead to a pile-up on the Montana highway, killing at least six people, from which two of them were kids.
Investigators observed that no other factor triggered the accident on the Interstate 90 freeway. The dust storm is solely responsible for the pile-up.
In addition to the six deaths recorded, eight people were left severely injured in the accident, and were immediately sent to hospitals.
The accident involved more than 20 vehicles. The isolated extreme weather sent everyone into sheer panic and it is claimed to be nobody’s fault, according to the Montana highway patrol.
Six commercial semi-trucks were among the 21 cars involved in the accident, which occurred three miles (five km) west of Hardin. During a busy summer hour for folks going home from work or travelling for outdoor leisure, there was zero visibility for a mile-long area.
Gov. Greg Gianforte took the Twitter platform to pay his condolences. He tweeted: “I’m deeply saddened by the news of a mass casualty crash near Hardin. Please join me in prayer to lift up the victims and their loved ones. We’re grateful to our first responders for their service.”
This incident is recorded as Montana’s worst multi-vehicle accident as of yet.
‘The dust storm’s roots could be traced back several hours when storms popped up in central southern Montana between 1 pm and 2 pm and slowly began moving east,” said Nick Vertz, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Billings.
At the nearby Big Horn County Airport, a gust of wind reaching 40 mph (64 km/h) was seen at 4:15 pm. The highway patrol received a report of the collision at 4:28 PM.
When the airport weather station’s next data was collected at 4.35 p.m., the gusts had risen to 60 miles per hour. A second reading taken 20 minutes later revealed a gust of 64 miles per hour.
The wind picked up plenty of dust because of the recent triple digit temperatures and temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit (30s Celsius).
Even 90 minutes after the initial call, first responders were still arriving at the scene.
Read more: At least six dead – including two children – after dust storm triggers mass pileup in Montana
