UPDATE (5:35 p.m.): First responders say it was a chaotic scene Tuesday morning as a crash involving 10 vehicles happened on Interstate 65 Northbound on the Dolly Parton Bridge.
“As we were responding we were getting multiple reports of entrapment as well as multiple patients in multiple vehicles,” said Chief Mike Minchew with the Bay Minette Fire Department.
According to authorities, 13 people were injured and transported from the scene.
That includes one woman who had to be extricated from her vehicle and a man who jumped off the bridge to get out of the way of an 18-wheeler.
“We set up a rope rescue to be able to get a crew down to the patient that was over the side of the bridge and start treating him and waited for a boat from Crossroads Fire Department to show up.”
Although the woman trapped in her vehicle and the man who jumped off the bridge were reported to have suffered critical injuries, officials say there have been no reported deaths in connection with the crash.
Minchew told News 5 that state troopers are continuing to investigate the cause of the crash.
UPDATE (12:53 p.m.): WKRG News 5 has more information on the wreck that happened on the General W.K. Wilson Jr. Bridge, also known as the Dolly Parton Bridge, this morning.
Watch The Big Story recap, in the video above, as authorities share an update on the wreck and News 5 speaks to witnesses of the crash.
According to officials, the wreck, which involved 10 vehicles — six cars, three 18-wheelers, and a box truck — had no deaths, but the Alabama Department of Transporation said there were multiple injuries, including one man who was rescued from the scene after jumping off the bridge when he saw an 18-wheeler.
News 5’s Asher Redd reported that the airbags had been deployed and spoke to a driver who said there were no tire marks as the road conditions were wet at the time of the crash.
Although all I-65 northbound lanes have since reopened, many people were stuck in traffic for hours. News 5’s Devon Walsh spoke with Eric Chitty right when traffic began moving.
Chitty said he was about a mile over the top of the bridge on I-65 North, “Heading to Atmore for a meeting, got stuck in traffic at 6:45 to a dead stop, and have been here ever since.”
Lanes have been open since just before 11 a.m. and News 5’s Caroline Carithers said they are back to normal speeds as of noon.