Three Crashes And One Dead

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State police say three separate traffic accidents on a foggy highway involved an estimated 18 cars and left one person dead and several injured in southern Louisiana.

The accidents were reported around 5 a.m. Tuesday on Louisiana Highway 1 near the town of Donaldsonville, roughly 40 miles west of New Orleans.

State police spokesman Capt. Doug Cain says the fatality happened in a crash involving six vehicles.

Lt. Col. Bobby Webre of the Ascension Parish Sheriff's Office said on the sheriff's website that several people were injured in the accidents, some seriously. Webre said heavy fog was a possible factor in the accidents. He said in one instance it appeared a car rear-ended a sugar cane truck, beginning a chain-reaction.

Police expected the highway to be closed for several hours.