Police: Multiple injuries in 30-car highway pileup

CARMEL, Maine (AP) — About 30 vehicles were involved in a pileup Tuesday morning that caused multiple injuries on Interstate 95 west of Bangor, state police said.

There were no fatalities but multiple ambulances and a medical helicopter were dispatched to the crash site in the northbound lanes in the town of Carmel, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

It was initially reported that up to 60 vehicles were involved, but the figure was revised downward, McCausland said.

Initial reports were that some motorists were blinded by the morning sun, contributing to the chain-reaction pileup that happened during the morning commute in which a stream of motorists were headed to Bangor.

The weather didn’t appear to be a factor. There had been some slight snow that ended at midnight, hours before the pileup, the National Weather Service said.

There was a massive backup up of cars, and troopers were trying to sort out the best way to reroute the vehicles off the highway. The northbound lanes were expected to be closed until noon, officials said.

Tuesday’s mass collision is not the first on the interstate near Bangor. More than 30 people were injured in a pileup that involved 102 vehicles over a four-mile stretch of I-95 during light snow in February 2015 between Newport and Bangor.