29 January 2012 Last updated at 21:25 ET

Florida crash: 10 killed in multi-vehicle pile-up

Video taken from a helicopter reveals the extent of the damage

Ten people have been killed in a multi-vehicle crash on a highway in the American state of Florida.

The pile-up occurred before dawn on Interstate 75 near Gainesville. Reports say it involved at least 12 cars and six trucks.

The road was shrouded in a cloud of thick smoke caused by a bush fire.

At least 18 people were taken to hospital and wreckage was strewn for nearly a mile (1.6km) along the road.

One driver, Steven R Camps, told the Associated Press that he was travelling home early in the morning when he ran into a bank of thick fog and smoke.

"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said.

"If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."