BENSALEM, Pa. (CBS) — Several multi-vehicles crashes, involving as many as 100 cars and dozens of tractor-trailers stretched over several miles of icy highway, shut down the Pennsylvania Turnpike for most of the day today between Willow Grove and Bensalem, Pa. 
 
 One crash area involved approximately 75 cars and several tractor-trailers in the eastbound lanes of the highway. The westbound lanes were closed to allow access by emergency vehicles. 
 
 According to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, 30 people were injured and transported to local hospitals. Doylestown Hospital confirmed it was treating one victim who was in stable condition, while Abington was reportedly treating 16 people. St. Mary’s Medical Center, in Langhorne, was treating seven and Temple University Hospital was treating one. CBS 3 is told five of the injuries are classified as serious, but none are considered life-threatening. 
 
 Dr. John Kelly, chief of staff at Abington, says the good news is none of the injuries are serious. 
 
 “The word that we have is that we may have seen the most severely injured at this point in time, which we’re pleased to say did not include any life-threatening injuries that we are aware of.” 
 
 Kelly explained what kind of injuries they were seeing, “In a blunt trauma situation, you’re going to have a lot of soft tissue and bone type injuries. I’m unaware of any fractures to date. We did have one patient who had a closed- head injury but appears to be recovering well from that.” 
 
 The incident began about 8:30am in the eastbound lanes between Willow Grove and the Route 1 exits in Bensalem, Pa. 
 
 Another crash happened closer to the Route 1 exit. That accident area involved approximately 30 cars and included a jackknifed tractor-trailer. 
 
 Chopper 3 was over the scene where it appeared at least four cars were stuck under the jackknifed tractor-trailer. 
 
 “We believe that it looks like at this point that the initial incident involved several tractor-trailer trucks. There have been reports of three to four. State police are working through sorting all that out right now,” Carl DeFebo of the Pa. Turnpike Commission said. 
 
 
 
 “Scared to death, just thinking that it wasn’t going to stop,” remembered Kate Garwood. “You kinda think you’re going to continue to get hit.” 
 
 “I was able to get off to the shoulder,” said Terry Foley, who drives the route to work every day. “I didn’t hit the car in front of me. I said, ‘I survived,’ and then somebody comes flying in the back of me.” 
 
 CBS 3 traffic reporter Bob Kelly called this “the worst accident I have seen in the 20 years I have been doing this.” 
 
 The Pa. Turnpike Commission reported around 3:30 p.m. that the tractor-trailer blocking all eastbound lanes was moved to allow trapped backlog to get past the scene in the left lane to continue eastbound on I-276. Disabled commercial vehicles remained, but all passenger vehicles in the backlog had been removed. 
 
 Other crews were removing small portions of the concrete median, to allow drivers trapped on the eastbound turnpike to U-turn onto the westbound lanes (which were also shut down to all but emergency vehicles) and get off the turnpike. 
 
 The turnpike was reopened to traffic just before 4pm — about 7½ hours after the first crash occurred. 
 
 Investigators indicate icy conditions and sun glare are being blamed as likely culprits in causing the pileup. 
 
 One driver said that road spray on windshields plus the sun low in the sky may have hindered visibility as drivers found themselves suddenly upon a stopped vehicle ahead with insufficient room to stop on the slick pavement. 
 
 Terry Foley seemed to agree. 
 
 “It’s all ice,” Foley said. 
 
 A total of 75 cars and trucks, including six tractor trailers, were taken to Rob Liepziger’s tow yard in Bristol, Bucks County alone. Many of them have front-end damage, back-end damage and a lot of the vehicles have been totaled. 
 
 Rob’s been in the towing business for more than 30 years. 
 
 “I haven’t seen anything like this in forever that I’ve been out here,” Liepziger said. 
 
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 Traffic was tied up for hours, with vehicles being diverted off the interstate. 
 
 Windsor Township, PA — 
 
 Two people were killed and three were injured in a fiery chain-reaction crash on Interstate 78 in Windsor Township on Wednesday. 
 
 The fatal accident was the second crash within minutes on the busy highway. 
 
 The first occurred about 2:30 p.m. in a single westbound lane in Tilden Township. Two tractor-trailers and one passenger vehicle were involved, said Trooper David C. Beohm, public information officer for Reading-based Troop L. 
 
 No injuries were reported in that crash. 
 
 The crash slowed and stopped traffic in both westbound lanes around mile marker 29. 
 
 Minutes later, a westbound tractor-trailer, unable to stop for traffic ahead, struck a passenger vehicle at mile marker 32.5. The impact pushed that vehicle into the rear of another tractor-trailer, according to Beohm. 
 
 The chain reaction involved five tractor-trailers and one passenger vehicle, Beohm said. Two of the tractor-trailers and the passenger vehicle were involved in the fire. 
 
 The highway was shut down for several hours between Hamburg and Lenhartsville in Windsor Township. 
 
 One lane of eastbound traffic began moving about 7 p.m. The westbound lanes opened at 3 a.m. Thursday. 
 
 Troopers said that both westbound lanes would be closed indefinitely for the investigation and cleanup. Further information on the crash victims was unavailable. 
 
 The crash created traffic headaches for motorists. 
 
 Late Wednesday, a steady stream of tractor-trailers that had been diverted off I-78 rumbled through downtown Hamburg on Old Route 22. 
 
 Lt. Howard Olsen of the Hamburg Fire Police was sandwiched between tractor-trailers crossing the intersection of Fourth and State streets in both directions. 
 
 The line of trucks stretched from Hamburg east to Lenhartsville, turning the normally dark roadway into a giant illuminated snake. 
 
 "I've been here since around 3:30 p.m.," Olsen said matter-of-factly. "This isn't the worst I've ever seen." 
 
 When they left Douglassville about 7 p.m., Mike and Stephanie Rehrer had no idea that they'd end up driving down dark country roads and limping into Rutter's in Hamburg with not much more than fumes in the gas tank, 
 
 "We literally coasted in here," said Stephanie, filling the tank of the family's Honda Odyssey minivan. 
 
 Mike chimed in, "The fuel indicator was on zero for the last 10 miles." 
 
 The Rehrers were among hundreds of motorists diverted from their destinations by the two accidents. 
 
 On their way to Lenhartsville to buy Harley-Davidson T-shirts, the Rehrers were in sight of their destination when they were diverted in a two-hour odyssey that landed them at the Rutter's. 
 
 A steady stream of weary motorists, some tied up for hours, sought refuge in the gas station, convenience store and restaurant off Route 61, a mile or so south of I-78. 
 
 Gassing up their 2017 Corvette at 9:30 p.m., Daniel and Barbara Hotko said that they had left Durham, N.C., 12 hours earlier. 
 
 "It's an eight-hour drive to our home in New Jersey," said Daniel, a retired General Motors worker. 
 
 Diverted off I-78 at Shartlesville, the Hotkos said that they were not allowed on Old Route 22. Meandering over dark country roads, they finally found a different, permitted way onto Old Route 22 and drove into Hamburg. 
 
 A patron at Rutter's directed them to Route 662 at Shoemakersville, a path to Route 222 and east to Allentown. 
 
 Jared Ney of Hamburg said that his daughter, a fourth-grader at Tilden Elementary School, didn't get home from school until after 5 p.m. 
 
 "That's a five- or 10-minute ride, and it took two hours," said Ney, 32, district manager for Red Wing Shoes. 
 
 It was also a long day for volunteer firefighters and fire police. 
 
 Hamburg Fire Company personnel worked through most of the night, assisting in diverting traffic, cleaning up spilled vehicle fluids and providing manpower to state police investigators as they pulled apart the wreckage. 
 
 The last crew returned to the station at 4:45 a.m. Thursday, Deputy Chief Jarrod K. Emes said. 
 
 Hamburg's roughly 25 volunteers were stretched to the limit. 
 
 ï¿½We had crews going to three different accidents within a 12-mile stretch of I-78,ï¿½ Emes said. 
 
 Contact the City Desk: 610-371-5012 or news@readingeagle.com.
– More than 100 cars and dozens of tractor trailers have been caught up in a chain of accidents stretching over several miles of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Bensalem this morning, backing up traffic for several more miles behind that. The first accident came at about 7:45am on the westbound side, causing a rubbernecking delay on the eastbound side—where the subsequent crashes occurred beginning at 8am, Fox 29 Philadelphia reports. Icy conditions are believed to be responsible—though residents say that stretch of road is so notoriously treacherous that accidents sometimes occur there in good weather. One crash site involves roughly 75 cars and several tractor trailers, CBS 3 Philadelphia reports. Another 30 cars were involved in another big wreck, in which a tractor trailer jackknifed, reportedly landing on top of at least four cars. Emergency crews are now using the westbound side to transport out the wounded. At least five people have been hospitalized so far. This is "the worst accident I have seen in the 20 years I have been doing this," CBS' traffic reporter said.