Eleven dead in Italian motorway pile-up

At least 11 people died in north-east Italy today when dozens of cars and trucks piled into each other in heavy fog.

Sixty other people were injured. Police said about 100 vehicles were involved in the crash between Venice and Treviso, 10 miles to the north.

Fifteen of the injured were in a critical condition, police spokesman Pietro Luigi Saga said.

“They were driving too fast in the conditions,” he said.

Thick fog had seriously reduced visibility during morning rush hour today when two trucks heading north from Venice to Treviso collided lightly with each other and stopped in the middle of the road, Saga said.

Other cars travelling in the same direction crashed into the trucks, one of which then burst into flames.

In the opposite lane, drivers stopped to look at the first crash, causing a second pile-up.

Seven people died in the first pile-up, and four in the second, Saga said.

Police had opened an investigation into the crash.