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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

String of pileups in Michigan leave one dead

Emergency personnel watch as fireworks ignite at a fiery crash on Friday that closed both sides of Interstate 94 near Galesburg, Mich. (Associated Press)
Associated Press

GALESBURG, Mich. – More than 100 vehicles were involved in pileups on a snowy Michigan interstate on Friday, killing a trucker and igniting a fire and explosion on a semi carrying fireworks, police said.

Snow, wind and poor visibility were blamed for the chain reaction of crashes on both sides of Interstate 94 in Kalamazoo County, 150 miles east of Chicago. The interstate wasn’t expected to reopen until late Friday or today.

“As you can imagine, it’s not easy to count vehicles as they pile up,” said Michigan State Police Lt. Rick Pazder, who pegged the number at 123.

A trucker from Ottawa, Canada, was killed and at least 23 people with injuries were taken to hospitals in Battle Creek and Kalamazoo, Pazder said.

Motorists who were not injured were taken by bus to warming centers.

Randall Kern said he was driving behind the truck with the fireworks when he hit the brakes, skidded and stopped his pickup truck on the shoulder.

“I jumped out and I ran away from it because I saw all the trucks coming and they couldn’t stop,” Kern told the Kalamazoo Gazette. “I jumped out and ran up through the trees to get away.”