Nearly 70 injured as 200 vehicles involved in pile-up in snowy Montreal

Nearly 70 people have been injured in a pile-up involving about 200 vehicles on a busy highway in a suburb of the Canadian city of Montreal.

Two people were still trapped in their cars hours after the crash, which happened at 12.30pm on Wednesday in La Prairie, Quebec, said Sgt Marie-Michelle Moore with the Sûreté du Québec, the province’s police force and highway patrol authority.

According to news reports, nearly 70 people were injured, some of them critically. The SQ does not typically provide details on injuries in evolving situations.

Footage of the crash showed that vehicles involved in the crash included a school minibus, a tanker truck with a flammable materials sign, and others. No students were involved in the accident, officials said.

“Pretty much everything with four wheels was involved,” said Moore. Luckily, there were no fires.

Some of the vehicles were piled on top of each other, and others had been smashed beyond recognition. About 75 were in the process of being towed away, said Moore.

Another 50, probably undamaged or lightly damaged, left on their accord, she said.

Quebec’s transport minister, François Bonnardel, said at a news conference that the chain reaction crash was probably caused by whiteout conditions on Highway 15, which had twice been snow-ploughed in the hour before the accident.

“People were driving, there were strong winds ... and, suddenly, you couldn’t see anything,’’ Bonnardel sad. And then, well, the pileup started.’’

The road is likely to remain closed until Thursday, he said.