Dozens injured in pile-up on Dutch highway

Nearly 40 people were hurt in a pileup on the A9 near Velsen-Zuid on Sunday morning. Around 10:30 a.m. a car crashed into the guardrail, after which around 10 other vehicles collided with each other. The entire highway in that direction was closed for 5 hours, NU.nl reports.

Most of the injured people were treated at the scene of the accidents. Only two had to go to hospital.

Hundreds of motorists caught behind the accident, were stuck on the highway for hours. During the afternoon, police officers helped these motorists in turning around and guided them off the highway.

Around noon, there was another collision on the other side of the highway, towards Alkmaar, believed to be caused by motorists looking at the pileup instead of the road ahead of them. One car crashed into the back of another. No one was injured, according to the newspaper. This collision resulted in two lanes on this side of the highway also being closed.

Meerdere gewonden bij kettingbotsing op A9 bij Velsen-Zuid https://t.co/2vxvAqwoCB pic.twitter.com/MlkM2BfQ15

— IJmuider Courant (@ijmuidercourant) October 8, 2017