Six confirmed dead in Interstate 57 crash; regional traffic patterns disrupted

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the confirmed number of fatalities.

CHARLESTON, Mo. — Heavy fog Thursday morning led to an accident resulting in multiple fatalities on Interstate 57 near Charleston.

Sikeston Department of Public Safety received a rescue call at 8:11 a.m. at the 13-mile marker on I-57 as one vehicle crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer and was pinned underneath. It is believed the incident was caused by heavy fog and led to a chain reaction of crashes involving dozens of vehicles.

Courtesy of Joshua Wheeler

Images from the accident show one vehicle was sandwiched between two tractor-trailers, while video shows law enforcement trying to extinguish a large fire involving multiple tractor-trailers.

There were reports of 50 to 70 vehicles involved in the accident, but the exact number was not known by mid-afternoon Thursday.

According to Mississippi County (Missouri) Coroner Terry Parker, there were at least five fatalities at 2:15 p.m. A sixth person died overnight, Parker said. There were many injuries as well, with some transported by ambulance to area hospitals as far away as Paducah, Kentucky. The exact number of injuries was not known by mid-afternoon as emergency crews continued to work the accident scene.

Google Maps traffic depiction at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday shows heavy traffic routing through the Cape Girardeau area as Interstate 57 from the Illinois line to Sikeston, Missouri, has been shut down as emergency crews work to clear a major crash scene.

Fog, as well as heavy fire coming from some of the trucks involved in the accident, complicated the rescue attempts. Some emergency helicopters were unable to to fly to the scene because of the heavy fog and smoke.

Multiple agencies responded to the scene, including Southeast Missouri’s Region E Homeland Security Response Team, a hazmat and rescue team of first responders from Sikeston, Cape Girardeau and Jackson and emergency personnel from Butler and Stoddard counties as well as Scott, Mississippi and New Madrid counties. Mark Winkler, Cape Girardeau County director of Emergency Management, said county agencies sent about a half-dozen emergency units, including the county’s mass casualty trailer.

At mid-afternoon, I-57 remained closed in both directions from I-55 in Sikeston to the Illinois state line.

A vehicle is seen sandwiched between two tractor-trailers Thursday morning on Interstate 57 at the 13 mile marker near Charleston. The accident involved multiple vehicles with multiple fatalities. The exact number of vehicles involved as well as the number of killed or injured were not known at press time. Courtesy of Bryan Celestine

The Mississippi County Sheriff’s Office asked people to avoid coming to Charleston until the incident was cleared as traffic was backing up and causing unnecessary hazards. All roads leading into Charleston were shut down because of traffic and emergency vehicle usage.

Drivers needing to cross the river were being rerouted to I-155 in Caruthersville, Missouri; Highway 74 in Cape Girardeau; Interstate 255, Interstate 64, Interstate 70 and Interstate 270 in St. Louis; and Interstate 55 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Many vehicles rerouted through Cape Girardeau. As of 1:15 p.m. Thursday, westbound lanes of Highway 74 were bumper-to-bumper from Kingshighway to Fountain Street, mostly with tractor-trailer rigs.

Rick Fahr contributed reporting to this article.