Massive Long Island Highway Pileup Leaves 1 Dead, 33 Injured

Police reports confirm that on Wednesday afternoon, a tractor-trailer smashed into several vehicles on a major highway, which set off a chain reaction that kiled one driver and injuring 33 others.

According to Fox News, the accident occured at about 2:40 p.m. on the Long Island Expressway, about 70 miles east of New York City, and left at least two dozen vehicles strewn across several hundred yards of the eastbound lanes. At least three vehicles, including the tractor-trailer, which was carrying storm debris, caught fire and were still smoldering into the early evening, a fire official said.

The victim that lost her life was a 68-year-old woman from Blue Point, who was driving a Toyota Camry eastbound on the expressway. According to police, she died at the scene.

The tractor-trailer driver, 42-year-old Raymond Simoneau, was heading eastbound when his truck struck a number of cars, triggering a pileup involving 35 vehicles. The injured were taken to three area hospitals.

The cause of the accident hadn't been determined, and no charges had been filed related to it. Investigators were working to sort out the sequence of events that led to the accident, on an isolated stretch of road on the rural part of eastern Long Island, Fallon said.