All lanes of Interstate 5 northbound at Victory Boulevard near Delta Park were closed for several hours due to a five-vehicle crash on Saturday afternoon,

The accident injured nine people who were taken by an ambulance to a nearby hospital. Three of them, a woman and two school-age children, are critically injured, reports Oregonlive.com.

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Columbian.com reports that according to Portland Fire & Rescue, the most seriously injured are a 24-year-old female and another 6-yearr-old female in the same vehicle. Meanwhile, a 6-year-old remains in critical condition.

The mishap happened at about 3:30 p.m., causing the closure of all northbound lanes. Officers had to divert the westbound vehicles to Denver Avenue, while cars headed for the east were advised to take Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard northbound or Highway 30 to Interstate 205 northbound to Vancouver. By 7:30 p.m., the freeway reopened.

Authorities also closed at one point the northbound traffic, which at one point extended several miles to downtown Portland, but it eased up later.

The Portland Police is still investigating the cause of the five-car crash.

TagsOregon, vehicular accident