SEOUL -- Nine people were injured on Tuesday in a pileup involving 43 vehicles in western South Korea, according to Yonhap news agency.

The multiple collisions occurred at about 5:50 am local time (2050 GMT Monday) in a highway near Goyang, west of the capital Seoul.

Nine drivers were wounded and taken to a nearby hospital.

Police and fire authorities controlled and cleared roads in the section of the accident, which caused traffic congestion in a three-km section.

It was presumed that the accident was caused by a black ice, a thin layer of ice on the road made by melting snow.