Up to 20 vehicles are involved in pile-up on an interstate in Pennsylvania

At least 20 vehicles have been involved in a pile-up on a Pennsylvania interstate, officials say. 

A mass casualty event has been declared following the crash on I-81 in Schuykill County, which saw the road closed down Monday morning.

The crash was reported just before 11 a.m. near Exit 116 of the icy interstate. The road has since been reopened, just under two hours after the crash was reported. 

Shortly after the accident was reported, Matt Catrillo, a journalist at a local radio station, tweeted that multiple vehicles were still on fire and people trapped.

Shocking video captured from the scene of the crash shows multiple trucks and cars smashing into a heap of damaged vehicles already blocking the road, due to snowy conditions hindering drivers’ vision. 

The pile of twisted metal, combined with conditions of low-visibility and poor traction caused by the weather, the footage shows, sets off a chain reaction of crashes over the course of several minutes, ensnaring several trucks and more than a dozen cars.

At one point in the footage, while cars are being propelled along the ice from the force of several collisions, the person recording is almost struck by his own car after it is hit by another vehicle sent reeling in the chaos.

The cars narrowly miss the driver, who flees along with several others into wood flanking the highway. 

Scroll down for videos: 

Up to 20 vehicles have been involved in a crash this morning on I-85 in Pennsylvania, officials say

Further footage of the wreckage shows several trucks and cars strewn along the snow-covered highway as smoke billows into the sky.

Emergency responders at the scene confirmed reports of fire at the crash site, and that multiple trucks were part of the pile-up. It is still not clear exactly how many vehicles were involved in the crash. 

Numerous aircraft have been called to the nearby Schuylkill County Airport in response to the incident, local outlets reported, to airlift survivors from the wreckage. 

Apart from officials’ mass casualty declaration, there has not yet been word on the exact death toll in relation to the crash or the number of those injured.

All lanes of traffic were shut down in the area for nearly two hours. The road – currently enveloped in ice – serves as a common route for cross-country truckers heading north to Canada or returning to the US.

During that span, the crash reportedly caused traffic on the busy roadway to back up for nearly six miles.

It currently is unclear what what caused to the crash – however, there had been snow in the area, with central and south-central parts of the state seeing snow squall warnings earlier in the day.