A seven-vehicle pileup in a single Interstate 30 eastbound traffic lane caused four people to be sent to three area hospitals with nonlife-threatening injuries early Friday evening.
The pileup, which occurred roughly between Texarkana, Ark., and Fulton, Ark., happened when the drivers of three eastbound passenger vehicles (using only one single lane open to them, owing to construction work) stopped when the drivers noticed traffic in front of them starting to stack up shortly before 4:30 p.m., Arkansas State Police Cpl. John Talley said.
Once the three vehicles stopped, an eastbound 18-wheeler plowed into the back of all of them, starting with a Nissan Murano, followed by a 2007 Avalon and finally a white Colorado Z-71 pickup truck. Shortly after this initial impact of these four vehicles, a second 18-wheeler plowed into the back of the first 18-wheeler, causing the second 18-wheeler to burst into flames and completely burn up. This happened just before a third 18-wheeler crashed into the back of the second 18-wheeler, causing the third 18-wheeler to partially catch fire. The fourth and final crash occurred when a brown Ford F-150 pickup truck hit the third and final 18-wheeler from the back.
All three 18-wheeler drivers escaped injury, while four of the six people in the four passenger vehicles were taken to hospitals. Those receiving medical treatment included a male and female passenger from the Nissan Murano, the Ford F-150 pickup's male driver and the male driver in the white Colorado Z-71 pickup, Talley said.
The couple in the 2007 Avalon weren't injured.