A massive crash involving more than 130 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate left six people dead and dozens injured on Thursday amid a winter storm that dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the US.

At the scene of the crash on Interstate 35 near Fort Worth, a tangle of semitrailers, cars and trucks had smashed into each other and had turned every which way, with some vehicles on top of others.

“There were multiple people that were trapped within the confines of their vehicles and requiring the use of hydraulic rescue equipment to successfully extricate them,” said Fort Worth fire chief Jim Davis.

At least 65 people were treated at hospitals, with 36 of them taken by ambulance from the crash site, including three with critical injuries, said Matt Zavadsky, spokesman for MedStar, which provides the ambulance service for the area.