Louisiana super fog death toll lowered after extensive investigation into fiery pileup on I-55

02:38

What caused super fog that led to fatal Louisiana pileup

FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin explains what super fog is and how it led to a fatal, multi-vehicle pileup on a Louisiana highway on Monday, October 23, 2023.

ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, La. – Louisiana State Police have lowered the death toll from a horrific pileup along Interstate 55 outside of New Orleans last week that was caused when super fog, a combination of fog and wildfire smoke, developed and dramatically lowered visibility.

State police initially said eight people were killed during the super fog event, but after the investigation, they lowered that number to seven.

HOW SUPER FOG FORMS AND WHY IT CAN STRIKE WITHOUT WARNING

Scenes from a deadly crash on I-55 in Louisiana caused by reduced visibility from super fog.

(Lance Scott)

In a news release, state police said that the intense fires that developed when vehicles crashed into one another had complicated the identification of both victims and vehicles that had been involved.

"In addition to the remains found throughout the crash scene, several bone fragments were also recovered, leading investigators to believe there was an eighth victim," state police said in the news release.

However, as the investigation continued, it was determined that there were no additional or unknown victims other than those who had already been identified.

The crash remains under investigation.

SURVIVORS RUSH TO AID VICTIMS IN ‘CRUMBLES’ CARS AFTER SUPER FOG CAUSES DEADLY PILEUP IN LOUISIANA

‘We hit a wall of taillights’

02:38

What caused super fog that led to fatal Louisiana pileup

FOX Weather meteorologist Britta Merwin explains what super fog is and how it led to a fatal, multi-vehicle pileup on a Louisiana highway on Monday, October 23, 2023.

More than 150 vehicles were involved in the massive pileup last week, and witnesses told FOX Weather that the situation turned chaotic in a matter of seconds.

"It was definitely low visibility, but we could still kind of see ahead," Erica Glory said.

Glory told FOX Weather meteorologist Jason Frazer that she was riding in a car with her mother, and they were keeping their distance from other vehicles with their low beams on, but when they came upon the elevated section of Interstate 55 where the fatal pileup occurred, everything changed.

"That visibility dropped to absolute zero," she said. "It was that fog mixing with the marsh fires. We couldn’t see the front end of my car. And all of a sudden, we hit a wall of taillights."

She and her mother were able to avoid the pileup but became terrified when they realized that they could be hit from behind by drivers unaware of what was waiting inside the thick super fog.

"It was definitely terrifying," she continued. "Those are people’s faces I won’t forget. Both the people I remember passing up on the interstate that I later am now seeing their cars in these pictures of the wreck. I won’t forget the faces of the people who kind of made it out with me."

All they could do, she said, was to wait.

"There were cars stopped in front of us. There were cars continuing to get pushed forward," she said. "We kind of just had to sit there and wait it out and hope for the best. You know? Try not to think about what was happening, and we were just waiting for it to end."