Two people were killed and dozens injured in a series of crashes on the Autobahn A3 in the southern German state of Bavaria Sunday afternoon. 

Authorities say some 40 vehicles were directly involved in a chain of crashes that began around 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) in heavy rain near the city of Würzburg.

The Bavarian Red Cross reported that 31 people were injured in the incident, four seriously.  

How did the crash unfold?

Authorities say the event was the result of three separate crashes that ultimately led to the closure of the A3 toward Nuremberg.

A police spokesperson said several vehicles had been involved in the initial accident and soon thereafter other cars began piling into stopped vehicles as traffic quickly began to back up.

The second accident caused three vehicles to catch fire.

The third accident occurred about 30 minutes later, when several more cars sped into stopped traffic.

On X, formerly Twitter, the Red Cross announced that major operations were underway, posting pictures of the closed freeway with ambulances and helicopters, three of which landed at the scene to fly away the seriously injured.

Another 30 uninjured individuals involved in the accident also received attention from aid organizations at the scene.

Material from German news agency dpa contibuted to this story

Edited by: Wesley Dockery