CNN
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One person was killed in a massive pile of more than 200 vehicles in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou on Wednesday, state media said.
According to the state-run The Global Times, the pileup occurred on a bridge covered in thick morning fog, and multiple vehicles collided.
Photos from the scene show a long multi-lane bridge spanning fields and the Yellow River, crammed with cars. You can see cars, cargo trucks, lorries and other vehicles piled up.
In the video taken from the ground, the air is still covered with fog. One clip shows a truck skidding forward and crashing into several small cars with sirens blaring in the distance.
According to The Global Times, many drivers and passengers were trapped inside their vehicles. Emergency responders and firefighters were dispatched to the scene, including transportation and health department personnel.
One eyewitness told the Global Times that the pile was several kilometers long and the dampness on the bridge made the road particularly slippery.
Visibility was just 200 meters (about 656 feet) that morning in some areas, Reuters reported, citing information from the local weather office. After several hours of pile-up, police issued a warning not to allow cars to cross the bridge because of the fog.
“Winter is often cold and foggy,” the traffic police said on its official Weibo account, China’s version of Twitter. Drivers were urged to slow down, use their lights and leave the hazard area as soon as possible.
The land bridge connects Zhengzhou and Xinxiang. Police closed the bridge during a rescue operation, and traffic reopened later that afternoon.