A car appeared to be sliced in half after smashing into trees along a Long Island parkway early Monday morning, killing at least four people, New York State Police said.
The accident on the westbound Southern State Parkway happened about 4 a.m., closing the roadway for more than five hours on a quiet Columbus Day holiday. Backpacks and other personal items could be seen inside the wreckage.
Glass, debris and other car parts were strewn along a wooded area adjacent to a nearby neighborhood street, where one neighbor said she was awakened by the sound of a loud explosion.
“Just a loud boom,” said Amy Buchanan, who lives on nearby Taylor Road. Her home is about 50 yards from where the late-model Subaru came to rest. She said other neighbors told her one apparent survivor of the crash was seen walking near the wreckage.
State Police did not immediately release the names of the four people killed in the crash, nor other details about the accident. There was no immediate information on the condition of the fifth person taken to the hospital.
Buchanan said the area is the site of frequent accidents. “I’ve lived here for 10 years and there has been an accident almost in that exact spot every year, but never as one as horrific as this.”
The parkway was reopened shortly before 10 a.m.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.