Nov. 21 (UPI) -- One person died and at least five others were injured in a multi-car collision on the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday morning, leaving the vehicles engulfed in flames.
The crash happened a little after 7 a.m. on the Brooklyn inbound side of the New York bridge, WABC-TV reported. Black smoke billowed from what believed to be three vehicles and it took firefighters an hour to extinguish the intense flames.
The crash shut down traffic on both sides of the bridge while it was investigated by New York Police. City officials said that Manhattan-bound lanes were reopened at about 8:30 a.m.
"There was a huge fire," witness Jennifer Brown told the New York Post, adding that she was walking across the mile-long bridge when the collision happened. "There was a lot of black smoke ... the cars were pretty engulfed. There was traffic stopped everywhere."
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The victim who was killed was pronounced dead at the scene. The Post reported six others received minor injuries, but other reports placed the number at five. Emergency crews transported one to the Brooklyn Hospital Center for treatment. The cause of the crash had not been determined by later Wednesday morning.
Some 125,000 motorists drive across the bridge daily and it is one of the major transportation routes between Brooklyn and Manhattan. Thousands more use the span to walk and bike across to work on any given day.
WNYW-TV reported that the crash caused major traffic jams, forcing city officials to issue emergency alerts for drivers to steer clear of the bridge.
