Portland, United States—Emergency crews spent hours clearing debris from Interstate 95 early Monday morning after a chain-reaction pileup left three people injured and completely halted commuter traffic along Maine’s primary transit artery.

The collision occurred just before 7:30 a.m. during peak morning travel hours. State troopers confirmed that four passenger vehicles and one commercial box truck were involved in the initial impact sequence.

First responders arriving at the scene reported extensive front-end damage to three vehicles clustered near the median barrier. Paramedics extracted two drivers who were trapped in their cabins due to the force of the collision.

State police spokesmen stated that the three injured individuals were stabilized on-site before being transported to a regional trauma center. Hospital officials confirmed all three are currently in stable condition with non-life-threatening lacerations and bone fractures.

Preliminary reports from highway patrol investigators suggest a sudden deceleration in the northbound lane triggered the pileup. A dense patch of morning fog significantly reduced visibility along that specific stretch of the corridor.

Brake marks spanning seventy yards indicate the commercial truck attempted to swerve before striking an SUV from behind. The impact pushed the smaller vehicle across two lanes of traffic, collecting two other sedans in the process.

Department of Transportation crews closed a three-mile section of the highway to allow reconstruction teams to map the crash site. Commuters faced gridlock lasting over three hours, with traffic spilling onto secondary state routes.

"The immediate priority was extrication and clearing the active travel lanes to prevent secondary impacts," a shift supervisor with Portland Fire and Rescue noted during an afternoon briefing.

Environmental cleanup crews were also dispatched to mitigate a minor fuel spill from the ruptured tank of the box truck. The fluid was contained before reaching nearby drainage ditches running parallel to the interstate.

Investigators are currently auditing dashboard camera footage from the commercial vehicle and interviewing witnesses to determine if excessive speed relative to weather conditions played a role in the crash. The northbound lanes remain restricted to a single shoulder lane as structural engineers inspect the adjacent concrete barrier.