100-plus vehicle pile-up in Kent leaves nearly 70 hurt
AFP, Thursday 5 Sep 2013
Chief Inspector Andy Reeves, from Kent Police, said he had never seen such a bad crash in 20 years


Over 100 vehicles were involved in a collision in thick fog on a bridge in Kent, southeast England on Thursday, leaving eight people seriously injured and 60 with minor injuries, police said.

Eyewitnesses at the scene described a mass of tangled trucks, cars, and a car transporter, while police said it was "miraculous" that no one died.

Police were called at 7:15 am to the crash on the London-bound carriageway of the four-lane A249 highway on the Sheppey Crossing road bridge, which connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent.

Chief Inspector Andy Reeves, from Kent Police, said he had never seen such a bad crash in 20 years.

"From my perspective, it's truly miraculous. It's very fortunate there were no fatalities."

TV pictures showed cars queuing for miles at the scene of the accident.

A Kent Police spokeswoman said: "The latest is there are eight people with serious injuries, but they are not life threatening.

"In addition there are 60 people with less serious injuries."

Police confirmed there had been no fatalities in the accident. They revised the injury toll down from an earlier figure of 200.

Eyewitness Martin Stammers, 45, told the Kent Online news site: "It's horrific. I've never seen anything like it in my life.

"All you could hear was cars crashing. We got out of our car and it was eerily quiet, with visibility down to just 20 yards."

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