Interstate 5 reopens after 60-car pileup near California-Oregon border

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Interstate 5 reopened Wednesday morning after crews cleared the wreckage of a 60-vehicle pileup just south of the California-Oregon border.

The initial crash happened just after 6:15 p.m. Tuesday about five miles north of Yreka, the California Highway Patrol told the Mail Tribune, a southern Oregon newspaper. About five minutes after authorities initially arrived, other vehicles began crashing because of ‘extremely icy conditions’ on the road, the newspaper said.

Eight people were taken to hospitals; six were treated and released, the paper said. A CHP officer told the Record Searchlight, the Redding newspaper, that one person was flown to an Oregon hospital for treatment. No fatalities have been reported in the case.

Uninjured drivers and passengers were taken to the Siskiyou County Fairgrounds to get out of 20-degree weather, the Mail Tribune said.

The Mail Tribune said 10 commercial and 15 passenger vehicles were towed from the scene. The northbound lanes of the freeway opened about 5 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. The southbound lanes were not closed.

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-- Kate Mather

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