“At least seven people were killed and several others were injured when a sandstorm that blinded drivers led to a pileup in southwestern Utah on Sunday afternoon, state officials said. The Utah Highway Patrol said it appeared that 20 vehicles were involved in the crash ‘after high winds caused a sand or dust storm and impaired visibility on the roadway.’ ‘No one could see, so people started stopping, and then you just get a chain reaction,’ Trooper Andrew Battenfield, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol, said late Sunday night. ‘Nobody could see, and then all of a sudden, you’re slamming into a car,’ he said. ‘It’s just a horrific situation.’ Several people were taken to local hospitals in critical condition, officials said. The crash, which happened around 5 p.m. local time, prompted the closure of parts of Interstate 15 in Millard County, between Salt Lake City and St. George. The Highway Patrol said the road would be closed in the area for a ‘significant time.'”

“Details about the victims were not immediately available. Trooper Battenfield said officials did not know late Sunday night how many people had been hospitalized. ‘We don’t even know how many for sure were hospitalized, this is how big of a crash it was,’ Trooper Battenfield said. ‘A lot of them are in critical condition.’ Trooper Battenfield said a ‘microburst of wind in an area that didn’t have a lot of vegetation,’ kick-started the crash” – New York Times.