New Jersey police and emergency crews responded to a 13-car pileup on Tuesday night that was caused by black ice, injuring some motorists while a jackknifed tractor trailer leaked diesel fuel onto the highway and into the Passaic River, according to reports.
Video of the incident shot by Freedom News TV shows a jackknifed tractor trailer blocking both lanes of traffic. In another shot, a Paterson, New Jersey, firefighter who responded to the scene is seen sliding around on a highway covered in black ice.
Footage also shows a vehicle on a flatbed tow truck with the rear end completely smashed and all airbags inside deployed.
Sarvjeet Singh, who was interviewed on the video, said he was driving when one part of the road became flooded. He said he drove through, as did other vehicles, before reaching a portion of the road that was completely frozen.
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"All of a sudden they couldn’t control their cars," he said, adding that he pulled into a driveway as other cars began to crash into each other. "I found out before that, there was a tractor trailer that got hit by a car and there was a bad injury there."
The cars, he noted, were crashing behind him after he pulled into the driveway.
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After driving through the water, he thought something was wrong with his brakes, but then he started to slide and realized the road was slippery.
Additional video shows smashed vehicles on the black ice, some with dented fenders, broken lamps, flat tires and crushed bumpers.
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Some of the vehicles were sideways on the road, while others were pointed in the opposite direction of the flow of traffic.
Crews were also seen cleaning up fluids from underneath the tractor trailer. They were seen sweeping and shoveling a speedy dry-type of material used to absorb oil and other fluids that could be toxic to the environment or cause hazardous conditions on roadways.
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One crew member is seen on video pointing to a spot asking if it was diesel. Images showed the fuel tank of the tractor trailer dented, causing it to leak fuel onto the road.
After the crash, salt trucks reportedly sanded down the roadway.
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Images on the Paterson Police Department’s Facebook page show police have been tending to severe flooding and dangerous road conditions caused by a coastal storm that moved through the area on Monday.
