50 Vehicle Pileup in New Hampshire

On Sunday, January 11th, 2009 a total of fifty vehicles piled up in an intersection in New Hampshire, USA. The pileup was caused by a single automobile accident where a school bus carrying 30 Boy scouts going on a ski trip saw a bunch of cars pileup behind them. Stephanie Hausenauer was travelling with the boy scouts and she had this to say about it. “At least 30 or 40 cars all piled up behind us.It was unbelievable. There were cars, buses, 18-wheelers, plow trucks. Most people [in wrecked vehicles] couldn’t get out of their doors — they were climbing out the windows,” she said. One person who was further back in the pileup was trapped under an 18-wheeler, so the firefighters had to use the jaws of life to save him.

Another man in his 40s, travelling with his family, appeared out of his car with his face bloody because of cuts. A young girl also had a gash on her forehead. The pileup was caused by a massive snowstorm that had dropped 10 inches of snow overnight. At least 10 people were taken to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Th highway, I-93, was closed for about 5 hours so crews could clean up the accidents, and was later reopened. Unfortuanately, the boy scouts had to go back home after about an hour and miss their ski trip.”It was just a huge huge mess,” she said. “One kid got a little queasy when he saw the blood, but that’s it. We’ll see if the shock sets in tonight when they go to bed.”