50 Vehicles Involved In Chain-Reaction Wrecks

Two semi-trucks jackknifed on a snowy interstate Wednesday, causing a series of chain-reaction wrecks with about 50 vehicles, police said. One person was killed and 14 others injured.

The wreck just before 11 a.m. temporarily shut down an eight-mile stretch of Interstate 196 from Zeeland Township to Hudsonville, said Ottawa County Sheriff’s Sgt. Rich VanBeek.

There was zero visibility on the road because of driving snow, he said. The exact cause of the wrecks was not immediately clear.

About six vehicles crashed in the original accident with the semi-trucks. Behind that pileup, 40 to 50 other vehicles crashed into each other or careened into ditches, VanBeek said.