FORT WORTH, Texas — Six people were killed and dozens more were injured after a crash on I-35W near downtown Fort Worth on Thursday morning led to a massive pileup of overlapping vehicles, including several 18-wheelers as well as police and MedStar vehicles, officials said.
Fort Worth police confirmed six people have died. MedStar reported five were pronounced dead on the scene.
About 100 vehicles were a part of the roughly mile-long wreckage in the southbound lanes of the highway, which were icy and slick due to overnight freezing rain, authorities said. A video taken by a passing motorist around 6:20 a.m. shows a succession of vehicles, unable to come to a stop, crashing into each other with loud thuds.
MedStar took 36 people to hospitals Thursday, spokesman Matt Zavadsky said. There were several people with critical injuries, he said, and several people with serious injuries.
The crash scene, Zavadsky said, was spread across the roadway from 28th Street to Northside Drive, and medics found new victims every few minutes as they went from vehicle to vehicle. They had to save several people who were trapped.
Photos from the fire department show firefighters on top of bent and tangled vehicles, looking inside for people. They wheeled away some of the people on stretchers, and escorted others to MedStar warming buses. They carried pets to safety.
One driver told the Star-Telegram he was able to stop just short of the crash and when he stepped out on the highway, “it was literally like stepping on an ice rink.”
“I wasn’t speeding. I was going relatively slow, paying attention to what was coming up ahead of me,” said Shane, who did not want to give his last name.
“I came out very blessed,” he said. “I was looking in my rearview mirror and it was like watching the hand of God move these cars up around me in the ice, and I’m just very blessed. There was a whole lot of loss and a whole of tragedy out there, but there were miracles that happened at the same time. So praise God for that.”
Lisa Salinas, a clerk at a nearby 7-Eleven, told the Star-Telegram that six to eight people involved in the crash walked into the store early Thursday, waiting for help. They were OK, she said, but shaken up. A Fort Worth jailer who had been in the crash told her his car just started sliding.
The crash occurred in TEXPress lanes, which opened several years ago in the median of I-35W. The lanes require motorists to pay an electronic toll — either by affixing a TollTag to their windshield or by having their license plate photographed and receiving a bill in the mail — as a way to pay their way around congestion that chronically occurs near downtown Fort Worth.
Though videos taken by passers-by appear to show the pavement iced over when cars and trucks began to smash into each other, a spokesman for the North Tarrant Express Mobility Partners said the company had actively worked to keep ice off the roads.
“NTE & NTE35W maintenance crews started pre-treating our corridors on Tuesday and have been spot treating since then,” spokesman Robert Hinkle said Thursday afternoon. “Our crews are now assisting emergency responders to manage the accident scene on 35W, and will continue treating the highways through the weekend and into next week.”
One photo from the fire department showed a firefighter breaking open a bag of salt to use on the highway. Mike Drivdahl, a fire department spokesman, said he couldn’t confirm whether the roads had been salted or sanded before the crash.
As the crash gained attention, locally and nationally, there was speculation on social media that roads weren’t properly treated.
Police announced on social media that a family reunification center was set up at the Riverside Community Center, at 3700 E. Belknap St., where family members could pick up people involved in the crash. About a dozen cars were outside the community center on Thursday morning.
About 30 people from the wreck were taken to the center. People who were in the crash but did not need to go to the hospital waited to be picked up by family or friends throughout the morning and afternoon, Fort Worth Officer Jimmy Pollozani said.
Other people who showed up to the location were trying to find their loved ones, or confirm if they had been involved in the accident.
Juan Gerred told the Star-Telegram his daughter hadn’t shown up for work and wasn’t answering her phone, so he decided to go to the community center to get information.
He and his family waited at the center, hoping to hear any information on his daughter. At about noon, he held a grocery bag with snacks and a Monster energy drink and described the frustration of not knowing.
“There are a lot of Jane Does and John Does still,” he said. “We can only hope for the best and will go from there.”
Pollozani said officials were gathering the names of those who were taken to the hospital from the crash and passing those names along to people waiting inside the center “so they can meet up with their loved ones.”
“We’re doing the best we can to try and provide as much information as we can for the family members here waiting to hear from their loved ones,” he said.
He also encouraged people to follow the police department on Twitter for information.
“As you can understand, this is a very traumatic event for everybody involved,” he said. “From first responders, to people in the wreck, to survivors. So all we ask is all of the city of Fort Worth to come together and pray for these families during such a traumatic event that occurred this morning.”
There continued to be long delays on I-35W as of Thursday afternoon, with southbound lanes closed surrounding the crash. It’s unclear how long lane closures could last, but Pollozani said officials would likely be clearing the road into the evening.
Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price said in a statement on Twitter the city activated the Emergency Operations Center to help manage the response to the crash.
In an additional statement, shared over social media around 3:20 p.m., Price said, “My heart is breaking for our community as we come to learn about the extent of the losses we are experiencing from today’s accident.”
“Our community is pouring out support, and I know that so many of you are asking for a way to help,” she said. “Right now, what Fort Worth needs most is your prayers — for the families, the injured and the first responders. We will share updates in the coming days with any additional ways to support those in need during this difficult time.”
As of Wednesday evening, there were 124 available ICU beds in the Trauma Service Area E of Texas, which covers 19 counties including Tarrant. That was the most recent available update.
On Thursday afternoon, John Peter Smith Hospital said 21 patients from motor vehicle crashes had been brought to JPS through the day, but hospital officials didn’t know which accidents they were in.
No patients died at JPS. Of the 21, four were critical and the rest were stable. All 21 patients had made contact with their loved ones.
In a news conference from I-35W around 10:20 a.m., Fort Worth police spokesman Daniel Segura said the scene remained active and drivers should avoid the area. First responders, including firefighters and MedStar medics, were continuing to make sure all victims on the highway had been attended to.
“I would like to ask everyone please keep in your prayers the family members of the loved ones who have lost their lives in this tragic accident,” Segura said.
Segura confirmed to the Star-Telegram in an email an officer was involved in the crash. That officer was in stable condition, he said.
Zavadsky noted medics were worried about the cold, with temperatures in the mid-20s, and the possibility that people still trapped in vehicles could develop hypothermia. MedStar had several ambulance buses on the scene where people could warm up.
More than 30 MedStar units responded to the scene, Zavadsky said. He worried, too, about medics spending prolonged time in the cold.
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(Fort Worth Star-Telegram staff writers Domingo Ramirez Jr., Gordon Dickson, Yffy Yossifor and Nichole Manna contributed to this report.)
