Car plunges into Ohio River after multicar pileup on bridge

NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) — A car plunged into the Ohio River after a massive pileup on a bridge leading from Kentucky to Cincinnati, police said.

It remained unknown hours after the crash Tuesday how many people were inside when the car toppled over the side of the bridge.

Campbell County Police Chief Craig Sorrell said a total of 12 vehicles were involved in four separate accidents at rush hour on the Combs-Hehl Bridge, which carries Interstate 275 from Campbell County, Kentucky, to Cincinnati.

The accidents caused a chain reaction as other cars tried to slow down and navigate around them, he said. The vehicle, which he declined to describe, was about halfway across the bridge when it was involved in another crash, fell over the side and plunged into the river below.

Water rescue teams from multiple agencies searched for the car for hours. It was located by sonar imagining on the riverbed Tuesday night, Sorrell said.

He did not speculate on how many are believed to be dead inside.

The Boone County Water Rescue team is assessing how to first determine the number of victims inside the vehicle, then decide how to get them out of the river, Sorrell said.

Nancy Wood, a transportation cabinet spokeswoman, said the bridge will be closed for six to eight hours as investigators reconstruct the accident and what caused the car to fall into the river.

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Car plunges into Ohio River after multicar pileup on bridge