Two dead, nine injured in 35-vehicle pile up in California

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) - Two people were killed and nine others were hospitalized after a 35-vehicle pile up in California on Saturday and the accident forced the southbound Interstate 5 in Kern County to be closed for over 24 hours till Sunday morning.

According to local KGET news channel, emergency crews were called to southbound I-5 near Bakersfield, about 170 kilometers north of Los Angeles, for a collision at around local time 7:30 am and then pronounced two people were dead at the "chaotic" scene.

The crash involved 35 vehicles, including 17 passenger vehicles and 18 big rigs, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) said, the pileup occurred during foggy conditions, in which visibility was down to about 3 meters.

The southbound I-5 lanes in the area closed until Sunday morning about 11:00 am due to investigation and clean up, according to Caltrans.

Yesenia Cruz, a driver involved in the pileup, told local KBAK news channel that she stopped after being notified of a crash on her GPS. Two minutes later, the car behind her crashed into her and "that's when everything just happened fast."

"Everybody just started screaming for help, just like that, and there were little kids as well crying," Cruz said.