Fiery pileup in Los Angeles-area freeway kills at least two, leaves several injured

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. -- A crash in a rain-slicked Southern California freeway tunnel quickly turned into a fiery, chain-reaction pileup that mangled 15 trucks, killed at least two people and shut down the key north-south route as the wreckage burned for hours.

The two dead were found in the tunnel after the flames abated, and authorities warned more bodies might be found. One truck driver was still unaccounted for, and 10 people were injured.

Two trucks collided about 11 p.m. Friday inside a southbound truck tunnel on Interstate 5, triggering the pileup, said fire inspector Jason Hurd. The accident scattered wreckage for at least half a mile.

Flames shot out of both ends of the tunnel, rising as high as 100 feet into the air, according to firefighters at the scene.

"It looked like a bomb went off," said Los Angeles County firefighter Scott Clark, who battled the blaze throughout the night.

The key route between Los Angeles and San Francisco remained blocked Saturday and was still smoldering more than 14 hours after the wreck. The highway is also a major commuter link connecting Los Angeles to its northern suburbs, and there are likely to be huge traffic jams in the area if it is still closed when people return to work Monday.

The tunnel, about an eighth of a mile long, offers trucks a more direct route on a web of canyon highways that also thread traffic on other levels.

The intense heat caused concrete to crack and melt, sending chucks falling onto a road below the tunnel throughout the night. Firefighters worried the damage could cause parts of the tunnel to collapse, particularly if they allowed many cars back onto the road that runs above it.

Most of the flames appeared to have been extinguished by Saturday afternoon, but thick columns of smoke were still curling out of the tunnel and into surrounding canyons. Firefighters poured flame retardant into one end of the tunnel to douse any hot spots.

It wasn't clear Saturday afternoon whether any of the trucks might have been carrying toxic chemicals.

The charred skeletons of at least a half-dozen big rigs could been seen peeking out of the tunnel's south end. At least one was carrying produce, and a smoldering load of cabbages lay scattered across the pavement.

Twenty people fled the fiery tunnel on foot, including the 10 injured, Hurd said. All were taken to hospitals and treated mainly for burns and neck and back injuries.

Although the tunnel is designed to carry truck traffic through a mountain pass area, passenger cars may also use it, raising concerns that some might be trapped inside, Hurd said.

Hurd couldn't say when authorities might be able to reopen the section of freeway.

"It could be another day, it could be days, it could be weeks," he told The Associated Press.

State transportation engineers were trying Saturday to determine when firefighters and rescue workers could enter to douse the remaining flames and look for anyone who might have been trapped.

The section of freeway was shut down twice before, by earthquakes in 1971 and 1994, when large overpasses over canyons collapsed. The worst of the temblors, the Northridge quake of 1994, also damaged another nearby highway, snarling traffic throughout the area.