Puebla, Mexico—Federal highway police closed all eastbound lanes near the mountain pass after a chain-reaction collision involving two commercial cargo trucks and fourteen private vehicles occurred during peak morning transit hours. Emergency medical technicians confirmed three individuals died at the scene from severe impact trauma before rescue vehicles could penetrate the gridlock. Visibility at the crash site had dropped to less than five meters due to a sudden bank of dense low-lying fog.

The pileup began when a heavy tractor-trailer braked suddenly to avoid a stalled delivery van on a steep downward grade. The trailing vehicles, traveling at highway speeds, were unable to stop on the damp asphalt, compounding the impact force with each successive collision. Two passenger sedans were completely crushed beneath the rear trailer assembly of the primary cargo truck.

National Guard personnel established a diversion point ten kilometers back to force incoming commercial traffic onto secondary state roads. The sudden influx of heavy freight vehicles quickly paralyzed local transit networks inside smaller municipal boundaries. Tow truck operators are working to separate the fused metal chassis using heavy steel cables and cutting torches.

Paramedics transported eleven injured motorists to private and public hospitals in the city of Puebla for urgent orthopedic treatment. Three victims remain in critical condition inside the intensive care wing due to internal hemorrhaging and thoracic injuries. The identity of the deceased drivers is being withheld until forensic experts complete formal fingerprint confirmation.

Surviving motorists described an immediate wall of white mist that blanked out brake lights ahead without warning. Several drivers abandoned their vehicles and climbed over the concrete median barrier into the trees to avoid being hit by trailing impacts. The sound of metal twisting continued for nearly three minutes after the initial collision occurred.

State prosecutors arrived at the scene to initiate a technical reconstruction of the accident sequence and review vehicle speeds via GPS tracking logs. Investigators are looking into whether the commercial trucking firm violated safety protocols by operating heavy equipment at normal cruising speeds during an active weather warning. The transport firm has declined to provide access to their maintenance logs.

Heavy cranes arrived shortly after midday to begin lifting the destroyed vehicle frames onto flatbed trucks for removal to a federal holding yard. Fire crews remain positioned along the shoulder to extinguish sporadic flare-ups from ruptured fuel tanks leaking diesel into the drainage ditches. The road surface requires extensive pressure cleaning to remove thick oil slicks before reopening.

Highway authorities expect the primary lanes to remain blocked until late this evening due to the sheer volume of fragmented debris scattered across the zone. Long lines of delayed passenger buses remain parked on the highway shoulder with commuters waiting on foot.