Dozens hurt in huge motorway pile-up

Nearly 200 cars and trucks collided on a fogbound Los Angeles motorway early today injuring dozens of people, nine critically, and closing the road for hours.

‘‘The fog was thick and all you saw on the horizon was the cars piled up in both directions,’’ driver Rob Zeigler told television station KABC-TV.

‘‘You could hear all the crashing and the banging. You could feel your car moving, knowing that other cars are still hitting you.’’

A highway patrol officer Joseph Pace said 194 vehicles, including seven or eight lorries, were involved in two separate pile-ups on the Long Beach Feeway.

At least 41 people were injured, nine of them critically, he said.

Dozens of cars, vans and trucks could be seen tangled together and littering both sides of the freeway about 25 miles south of Los Angeles. Some cars were buried under others, and some of the injured had to be cut from their vehicles.

Early morning fog may have contributed to the pileups, which started just before 7am, California Highway Patrol Officer Douglas Kondo said.