British motorway crash could be due to firework display

Nov 7, 2011, 13:27 GMT

London - British police were Monday focussing their investigations into a mass motorway pile-up which left seven people dead and more than 50 injured on a nearby firework display that created a sudden 'wall of smoke.'

'We do believe that whilst there was fog and difficult conditions in the area, that actually from witness evidence there was very significant smoke across the carriageway that in effect caused a bank, similar to a fog bank, which was very distracting and very difficult to drive through,' police said Monday.

The accident on the M5 motorway near Taunton, south-west England, has been described as the worst in recent British history. The carriageway was reopened late Sunday.

More than 30 cars and lorries piled into each other as survivors and eyewitnesses reported explosions and a 'huge fire.'

'There were explosions everywhere, like a war zone. The heat was intense,' Michelle Craker, who survived the accident, told the Daily Mail. 'People were screaming but we couldn't see them in the smoke,' she added.

'We believe from the witnesses and from what we're being told that it was smoke and not fog,' Anthony Bangham, the assistant chief constable of Avon and Somerset police said.

Taunton Rugby Club, in whose grounds the firework display was held, said it was cooperating closely with the police.

The accident happened on the eve of November 5, the annual commemoration in England to mark Guy Fawkes Day, the foiling of the attempt led by Guy Fawkes in 1605 to blow up the king and members of parliament in retaliation for the repression of Roman Catholics in England.