An overnight pileup on south Interstate 35 in Austin left 5 dead, officials said.
According to officials with Austin-Travis County EMS, Austin police and Austin fire, first responders were called at about 11:20 p.m. Thursday on reports of a collision involving multiple vehicles and a semi-truck in the 12900 block of I-35 south. When crews arrived, they found multiple people pinned inside their vehicles.
In total, 17 vehicles were involved in the pileup, which was spread out over a tenth of a mile, officials said. Three people needed to be cut from their vehicles, officials said.
Seventeen people were injured in the collision and five were pronounced dead at the scene, including three adults and two children, one of whom was an infant, officials said.
Eleven people were taken to area hospitals after the crash, five of whom had critical or potentially life-threatening injuries, officials said. Included in that toll were three children, one of whom had potentially life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Several agencies, including the Travis County sheriff’s office and Round Rock Police Department, responded to the crash, which caused the highway to be shut down. Interstate 35 south remained closed as of 8:45 a.m. Friday, according to Texas Department of Transportation traffic cameras.
