By The Associated Press

Published: Monday, January 21, 2013, 8:08 p.m.
Updated: Monday, January 21, 2013

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Blowing snow and slick roadways in various parts of the state on Monday set off multiple highway pileups, including one outside Cincinnati involving at least 86 vehicles that left a 12-year-old girl dead.

The crash on Interstate 275 near the Cincinnati suburb of Colerain Township was one of at least four pileups that snared dozens of vehicles. Officers were called to the scene about 11:30 a.m. and discovered multiple chain-reaction collisions.

The 12-year-old girl had gotten out of a damaged vehicle and was standing in the median near a cable barrier, a type of fencing made of rope-like steel wire cables, the Hamilton County sheriff's office said. Another vehicle hit the barrier, snapping a cable, which then struck the girl and killed her, office spokesman Jim Knapp said.

At least 20 people were taken to hospitals, although their injuries were not expected to be life-threatening, the office said.

“It was just chaos, absolute chaos,” Hamilton County sheriff's office Lt. Tory Smith said.

The sheriff's office said the crash remained under investigation, but it noted that inclement weather was a factor. Snow had been accumulating on the roadway, and there were reports of ice. Visibility was poor.

As many as 50 vehicles were in a pileup on I-75, between Middletown and Monroe, in southwest Ohio.

State Highway Patrol Sgt. James Russell said that snow falling at the time of the pileup caused “white-out conditions” and possiblytriggered the first drivers to lose control and start the crash.

Witness Luke Stevens of Van Wert said he was in a vehicle at the front of the pileup.

“It was complete ice all over the highway,” he said.

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