A 15-truck pileup in a Los Angeles-area freeway tunnel led to the death of two people and to the injury of 10 other, sources from the California Highway Patrol said.

The wet and slippery conditions on the roadway led to the collision of two trucks at about 11 p.m. Friday night. Then other vehicles crashed into the two trucks that were obstructing the way in the tunnel thus creating an impasse on Interstate 5, approximately 30 miles northwest of downtown L.A.

Smoke was still coming out of the tunnel on Saturday morning, and the fire that had erupted made the rescue operation very difficult for the firefighters. The rescue teams have been moving just 10 feet at a time for safety reasons, said John Tripp, deputy chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The debris resulted from the domino-like crashes is obstructing the rescue teams’ efforts, but officials said they expect the operations to end by Sunday evening.

Winds coming from both sides of the tunnel whipped the flames, thus intensifying the heat. That led to the explosion of the concrete inside and added more debris.

"What's making this tough, obviously, is the fire burned so intense that a number of vehicles are burned down to the core," said Warren Stanley, assistant chief of the California Highway Patrol.

The firefighters managed to put out most of the fire at about 5 p.m. Saturday, after shooting high-expansion foam into the tunnel in an attempt to suffocate the fire in order to permit the rescue teams to enter.

The pileup crash blocked major traffic arteries near Santa Clarita leaving scores of drivers unable to move on the roads for more than seven hours.

Eight people had suffered minor injuries and two had "moderate" injuries. The two dead people were not identified yet.

I-5 is the only Interstate highway to touch both the Canadian and Mexican borders. It serves as one of the main roads that connect the Los Angeles/San Diego Metropolitan areas north and east to the rest of the nation.