Two victims of 50-car pileup on I-78 in Pennsylvania were from NY area

FREDERICKSBURG, Pa. -- Authorities on Sunday released the names of the three people killed in a pileup of scores of vehicles on a central Pennsylvania interstate during a snow squall that also sent more than 70 people to hospitals.

Kenneth J. Lesko, 50, of Bethpage, New York; Francisca V. Pear, 54, of Bridgewater, New Jersey; and Alfred Dean Kinnick, 57, of Limestone, Tennessee, were all pronounced dead at the scene of Saturday morning's crash on Interstate 78, state police in Lebanon County said Sunday.

The crash shortly before 9:30 a.m. Saturday occurred in what drivers reported as whiteout conditions, with very low visibility and a lot of drifting snow, Trooper Justin Summa said.

"People were saying they couldn't see past the front bumpers of their cars," Summa said Sunday.

The major crash along one stretch of I-78 in Bethel Township involved 64 vehicles, including a dozen commercial vehicles such as tractor-trailers and box trucks, but there were also "numerous secondary crashes" behind that as traffic backed up, Summa said.

A total of 73 people were taken by four medical helicopters and by ambulance for treatment at 11 hospitals. At least one remained in critical condition Sunday, but Penn State Hershey Medical Center said two others taken to the hospital with critical injuries had improved and most of the 13 people brought to the hospital had been discharged.