The part of Highway 401 that was closed following a dramatic seven-vehicle collision at noon Monday has been reopened.

All eastbound express lanes were closed beyond Islington for over ten hours for the cleanup. Although it was originally thought that they would remain closed until midnight, Ontario Provincial Police announced that they were open again just before 11 p.m.

Four people have been taken to hospital following the collision, two with serious but not-life-threatening injuries and two with minor ones, OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said, but “fortunately, (there are) no fatalities at this time.”

The OPP said that the collision was between three transport trucks, a commercial vehicle and three passenger vehicles.

“The collision appears to have occurred when traffic began to slow and a transport truck came in to the end of the queued traffic, failed to recognize the slowing traffic and collided into traffic, causing this multi-vehicle chain reaction wreck,” Schmidt said. Vehicles struck by the transport truck careened across the lanes, striking other vehicles in turn, but the resulting trail of destruction “seems to have been triggered by the one transport truck that failed to slow.

“We have vehicles stretched across the highway on both sides, debris everywhere,” Schmidt said.

Photos of vehicles turned into a mess of shattered windshields and crumpled metal taken at the scene by Schmidt show how truly fortunate it is that there were not more victims suffering serious injuries or worse. The smaller vehicles took the brunt of the damage, while transport trucks—one of which seems to have been the cause of the pileup—appeared to have fared better.

No charges have been laid.

Traffic was diverted onto the collector lanes at Islington Ave., for the initial closure, and remained heavy throughout. Schmidt said there were massive delays in both directions, although the westbound lanes remained open during.

An early estimate for a reopen time predicted 6 p.m., but then Schmidt reported that investigators at the scene had “come across some challenges with the removal and cleanup of the vehicles,” that extended the reopen estimate to the late evening.

A reconstruction team is still working to unearth all the details surrounding the cause of the collision.

With files from Jenna Moon