CLARION, Pa., Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Eighteen cars and trucks were involved in a deadly chain-reaction crash in a snow squall on Interstate 80 in western Pennsylvania.

Two drivers were killed after getting out of their vehicles, police said.


The westbound lanes of I-80 were closed for hours until vehicles could be cleared.

The crash occurred Wednesday afternoon as an Arctic clipper brought low temperatures and snow to much of the Northeast. In Clarion County north of Pittsburgh, snow squalls at times reduced visibility to close to zero on I-80.

"We had two back-to-back squalls come through the county, made visibility very difficult," said Vern Smith, the director of Emergency Services.

PHOTO: Today's awful crash scene in Clarion Co;17 vehicles, 3 deaths & 30 injuries(credit: Bauer Truck Repair) pic.twitter.com/FffeYLGqns — Kelly Brennan (@Kbrennan_WTAE) January 8, 2015

Timothy A. Floravit, 36, of Beaver Falls, collapsed and died after he got out of his car to find his wife and children, Clarion County Coroner Terry Shaffer said. The children, who had been ejected from the car, survived without life-threatening injuries, as did their mother. Floravit had been injured by the steering wheel, Shaffer said.

A tractor-trailer driver from Nancy, Ky., was struck by a car after leaving his truck. Shaffer said the 67-year-old man was trying to help those who had been injured.

Reports on the number of injured varied. Smith said the list totaled 30, including 15 people on board a bus. A spokeswoman for Clarion Hospital said 18 to 20 people were treated in the emergency room there, mostly for minor injuries, and three were transferred to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Oakland.