re: #48 Shiplord Kirel

Car crash from hell on LIE this afternoon. 1 dead, dozens injured:

At an afternoon news conference, Suffolk Fire Rescue and Emergency Services Commissioner Joel Williams and Deputy Suffolk County Police Department Inspector Kevin Fallon said the accident resulted in one fatality.

At least 18 other people were injured in the crash involving three tractor trailers and at least 25 vehicles, officials said.

It happened near Exit 68 in Shirley just before 3 p.m.

Twelve of those injured in the crash were taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center.

Preliminary information indicates that a tractor-trailer filled with wood-chips and mulch, heading east to a landfill, rear-ended and then plowed through more than a dozen vehicles that had slowed to merge from three lanes to one near Exit 68, CBS 2′s Jennifer McLogan reported.

Vehicles began careening, spinning and burst into flames, including the tractor-trailer.