CASA GRANDE, Ariz. Three people were killed and at least 12 injured after a dust storm led to multiple crashes Tuesday on Interstate 10 between Phoenix and Tucson, authorities said.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) said 19 vehicles - 10 commercial vehicles, seven passenger cars, one tanker and one recreational vehicle - were involved in chain-reaction collisions south of Casa Grande shortly after noon.
Television footage showed that several cars and tractor-trailers smashed into each other near Picacho Peak in south-central Arizona, with at least one passenger car pinned between two 18-wheelers and others wedged under big rigs.
Henry Wallace told CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV he got out of his car just in time before the crashes began.
"One truck hit another truck. Cars start piling into each other, and they pushed that one truck right into me and off to the side of the road," Wallace said. "I couldn't see anything because the (dust) was so thick, but I could just hear it, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."'
Medical helicopters airlifted several of the injured to hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix, and DPS officials said at least one person was in critical condition.
DPS said right after the crash, military personnel with medical backgrounds who were traveling to Phoenix from Tucson came across the scene and assisted with providing care until crews arrived on scene, reports KPHO.
The Picacho Peak area is prone to dust storms that develop suddenly and can quickly reduce visibility to zero for drivers.
The National Weather Service had issued a blowing dust advisory shortly before the crashes, with wind gusts of up to 30 mph reported in the area.
"A steady southwest wind created channels of dense, blowing dust," meteorologist Chris Dunn of the National Weather Service's Phoenix office told KPHO. "Unfortunately, one of those localized channels of dust ended up over a busy Arizona interstate."
DPS spokesman Bart Graves said Tuesday's crash was one of the worst chain-reaction accidents in that area in the past seven years.
Parts of the westbound lanes of I-10 at the crash scene were closed more than five hours.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) said 19 vehicles - 10 commercial vehicles, seven passenger cars, one tanker and one recreational vehicle - were involved in chain-reaction collisions south of Casa Grande shortly after noon.
Television footage showed that several cars and tractor-trailers smashed into each other near Picacho Peak in south-central Arizona, with at least one passenger car pinned between two 18-wheelers and others wedged under big rigs.
Henry Wallace told CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV he got out of his car just in time before the crashes began.
"One truck hit another truck. Cars start piling into each other, and they pushed that one truck right into me and off to the side of the road," Wallace said. "I couldn't see anything because the (dust) was so thick, but I could just hear it, 'Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."'
Medical helicopters airlifted several of the injured to hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix, and DPS officials said at least one person was in critical condition.
DPS said right after the crash, military personnel with medical backgrounds who were traveling to Phoenix from Tucson came across the scene and assisted with providing care until crews arrived on scene, reports KPHO.
The Picacho Peak area is prone to dust storms that develop suddenly and can quickly reduce visibility to zero for drivers.
The National Weather Service had issued a blowing dust advisory shortly before the crashes, with wind gusts of up to 30 mph reported in the area.
"A steady southwest wind created channels of dense, blowing dust," meteorologist Chris Dunn of the National Weather Service's Phoenix office told KPHO. "Unfortunately, one of those localized channels of dust ended up over a busy Arizona interstate."
DPS spokesman Bart Graves said Tuesday's crash was one of the worst chain-reaction accidents in that area in the past seven years.
Parts of the westbound lanes of I-10 at the crash scene were closed more than five hours.