Two women injured in eight-vehicle I-5 pileup Thursday

Two women in their 20s were injured in an eight-vehicle pileup that involved two semitrailers on southbound Interstate 5 in Olympia Thursday afternoon, according to Washington State Patrol. The pile-up blocked lanes of traffic for more than two hours.

The first of three accidents involved in the pileup happened just before 2:15 p.m. near milepost 107 and Boulevard Road Southeast, according to a State Patrol press memo.

It involved three vehicles: The driver of a Dodge pickup slowed down for traffic, and the driver of a Ford car swerved to the right to avoid hitting the pickup.

The driver of a GMC pickup had been following the Ford too closely, according to the press memo, and crashed into it, then swerved to the left and hit the Dodge pickup.

Two of the vehicles came to rest in the middle of three lanes, and one came to rest on the right shoulder.

The second crash happened when the driver of a Mazda pickup slowed down to avoid hitting the vehicles that were still in the road from the initial accident. A semitrailer hit the Mazda from behind, pushing it into one of the vehicles still in the road.

At this point, there were four vehicles disabled in the second lane of southbound I-5, and one from the first accident stopped on the shoulder.

The pile-up then multiplied when an Acura crossover SUV slowed down to avoid hitting the disabled vehicles. A BMW car behind it successfully slowed down as well, but a semitrailer behind the BMW did not: The semitrailer hit the BMW, which caused the BMW to hit the Acura.

The drivers of the BMW and the Acura — a 28-year-old woman from Lacey and a 24-year-old woman from Portland— were transported to Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia with injuries. Both women were wearing seat belts, according to State Patrol, and a hospital spokesperson said Friday morning they had both been treated and released.

This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 10:08 AM.