A serious, multi-vehicle crash on I-57 in Calumet Park early Wednesday morning turned deadly after a separate car crashed into three people standing at the scene, with multiple others injured and all northbound lanes shut down for hours as traffic backed up to the south suburbs for the rush hour commute.
According to Illinois State Police, the incident began just after midnight, with with a three-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of I-57 just south of 120th St.
As three occupants from the initial crash were outside of their vehicles, a second crash occurred, ISP said, with a car that was not involved in the initial crash striking the three standing at the scene.
The three were confirmed dead on the scene, ISP said. At least five others were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
As of 6 a.m. all northbound lanes of I-57 at 120th were currently shut down, with a detour in place at 119th.
Traffic was backed up as far as West Pullman, Blue Island, Posen and beyond, NBC 5 traffic reporter Kye Martin said.
“It’s locking you in as you come in from the south suburbs,” Martin said. “This is going to be a long time.”
According to ISP, the crash was cleared about 7:50 a.m.
