Cause of deadly Florida crash sought

Last Updated at 12:42 p.m. Eastern

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The National Transportation Safety Board has two investigators at the site of the I-75 crash that killed 10, an official tells CBS News.

There is no specific threshold for investigating highway crashes, but the Board investigates "high consequence events and incidents." Ten people were killed and 18 others hospitalized in the multi-vehicle accident that occurred in low visibility early Sunday.

I-75 was reopened Monday morning as accident investigators tried to determine what caused the first crash that set off the fiery chain reaction that killed 10. The Florida Highway Patrol is leading the investigation.

CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann reports it may turn into a criminal investigation.

Drivers were blinded by a combination of fog and smoke caused by a nearby brushfire - and that fire may have been set intentionally. State officials can find no natural cause, no natural explanation like a lightning strike, which could have started the brush fires.

The disaster scene ran for one mile along I-75, littered with the burned-out shells of up to 19 vehicles, including at least seven tractor-trailers. In zero-visibility conditions, a combination of smoke and fog, drivers headed into a deadly multi-car pileup.

"As we were coming through the prairie, it went from crystal clear visibility to nothing in 50 feet," crash survivor Bert Thomas told CBS News.

Visibility was so poor that when rescuers first arrived on the scene, they could locate victims only by listening for moans and screams.

A police dashcam photo shows poor visibility caused by fog and smoke on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Jan. 29, 2012.

/ Alachua County Sheriff's office

Throughout the day, firefighters sprayed foam on smoldering wreckage and rescuers used machinery to pry victims from vehicles.

"It was a very traumatic situation and frightening situation to be out there on I-75. Hearing crashes, hearing explosions, hearing people scream," said Alachua County Sheriff spokesperson Sadie Darnell.

The interstate had been closed for a time before the accidents because of a mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. The decision to reopen it early Sunday will certainly be a focus of investigators, as will the question of how the fire may have started.

All lanes of I-75 reopened late Sunday, but authorities closed the highway again early Monday due to poor visibility caused by fog and smoke.

"It looked like the end of the world"

Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home hours before dawn Sunday when they were suddenly drawn into the massive wreck.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville man said hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."

The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.

Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.

The scene of a multi-vehicle accident that killed 10 people on Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Fla., Jan. 29, 2012.

/ CBS

Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.

Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and urged Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area, just south of Gainesville.

A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.

"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.

Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to him when another vehicle hit that man's car.

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[Indyswim66]

It was probably some old f**t turning left from the right-hand lane.

[johnthecableguy]

My condolences to those who lost loved ones.

There was no good reason for this to happen. The drivers were going to fast. If your stopping distance is greater than the distance you can see down the road, you are inviting disaster. If you are traveling at night, maintaining proper following distance, and see the taillights ahead of you disappear... slow down!

[Dgunner]

I spent 31 months in the door of medecav choppers all over vietnam. I have seen everything that man had thrown at each other and the life expectancy of a evac door gunner was 9 days.War then and I am sure now unpredictable as we age and learn . Riding and driving in a vehicle and putting in that vehicle your children grand children and entire families traveling together in my opinion is still and will always remain one the most complacent intentional acts of stupidity mankind has ever done to themselves.

[credibility2]

I'm sure law enforcement will have guilt over the apparent premature reopening of this highway. I also hope that if the brush fire was due to arson that the perpetrator be apprehended and charged with all of those deaths and injuries, plus all related losses in vehicles, personal property and the cost to have police and fire to come out to the accident scene.

[cedaredge]

CBS is reporting this story?
Well, I guess there won't be any "facts" mentioned.

[qmpash]

We will have to wait until the investigation is complete but the fire looks extremely suspicious to me. It is difficult, although not impossible, for a fire to start during a fog without some kind of an accelerant. The air is laden with moisture and, in a very dense fog, vegetation is literally dripping with water.

[windmichael21]

who is in charge to open the roads when there is danger to drive......