February 12, 1998

PADUA, Italy (CNN) -- A high-speed chain reaction crash on Thursday involving 250 vehicles on a fog-bound highway in northeastern Italy left at least 4 people dead and injured dozens, police said. There was no immediate word on what started the pileup on the A-13 highway between Padua and Rovigo.

Scores of crumpled and burnt cars, trucks, and buses were piled behind one another on both sides of the four-lane road linking Padua and Bologna. Some vehicles plunged down a grass bank into a ditch.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene, sifting through twisted wreckage for possible survivors. Police said fog had reduced visibility to less than 60 yards (200 meters) when the chain reaction crash began about 9 a.m. The first collision occurred on the southbound side of the road, but there were fatalities in both directions. Some vehicles veered across the median into oncoming traffic as they tried to avoid the pileup. In addition, drivers who slowed down to look at the pileup also contributed to the chain reaction crash, reports said.

With both lanes blocked, emergency vehicles had trouble reaching victims. The fog was so thick, helicopters could not land to remove the injured by air.

A truck carrying uranium was in the midst of the wreckage. Experts were sent to determine if its cargo was in danger of leaking.

Two years ago, on February 12, 1996, 12 people were killed and 100 injured in a 300-vehicle pileup on the nearby A-4 motorway.

Pileups are fairly common on roads in the Padua flatlands where fog is a constant problem.

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