Rescuers from at least a dozen communities worked for more than an hour to
free trapped motorists.
The 12-year-old girl, who has not been identified, was killed when she got
out of her car after the accident. Sheriff's investigators said she was standing
in the median when a steel cable from a guardrail hit her; it had snapped after
one of the vehicles hit it.
Among those injured were two children, ages 4 and 5.
Tony Ali, of Hamilton, said he saw paramedics working frantically to save a
girl who he thought was about 5 years old. He and other crash survivors tried to
help people trapped in their cars, including an elderly couple whose car was
wedged against Ali's car.
"I pray for them," Ali said. "God blessed me. I am OK."
The Colerain pileup was one of several wrecks that happened around the same
time, including a 52-vehicle pileup on Interstate 75 between the Monroe and
Middletown exits, police said.
About 10 people from that crash scene were treated at hospitals, but no one
was reported seriously hurt, police said.
All southbound lanes of Interstate 75 were closed for about four hours while
crews cleared the wreckage and investigated.
Officials said late Monday that they still didn't know the number of crash
scenes along that stretch of highway. Accidents were so numerous on I-75 that,
by midafternoon, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said: "The whole thing is a
parking lot."
Parts of I-75 remained closed through early Monday evening. I-275 was fully
reopened just before 7 p.m.
Scott Hickman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said the
squalls dropped no more than an inch of snow. But he said the snow hit quickly,
reduced visibility and made roads slick.
Although the temperature was in the 20s, Hickman said, the roads may have
been warmer, causing the snow to melt and then refreeze.