CONCORD, N.H. – A snow squall caused a chain-reaction pileup Saturday of about 40 vehicles, including two buses, that shut down southbound Interstate 93 in Canterbury, N.H.

At least nine people were hurt, but no fatalities were reported, N.H. State Police said.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, a Concord Hospital nursing supervisor said, and most of the injured were expected to be treated and released from the hospital.

“We had a few little flakes. Just all of a sudden we came into this huge snow squall,” said Rebecca Buskey of Ashland, 55, whose husband, Peter, was driving their pickup truck when it was rear-ended. “The roads were just slick.”

The couple’s truck was among the first vehicles involved in the accident about 10 miles north of Concord. Buskey said her husband started slowing down and was trying to pull aside when they saw two or three cars that had rammed into guardrails or were off the road.

Buskey said she and her husband were shaken but not hurt, and they got out of their truck and tried to warn oncoming drivers.

“Everybody was just running up on the banks to be safe,” Buskey said. “My husband and I were screaming, ‘Get off the road! Get off the road!’ We could see them sliding. … It kept piling up.”

The early afternoon accident shut down the southbound side of I-93, just north of Exit 18. It reopened after about two hours. Police said a small school bus from Tilton and a commercial bus carrying a college sports team also were involved in the accident.

The couple run a tow truck company in New Hampton. They had planned to go out to eat in Concord, but Peter Buskey ended up assisting with stranded cars. “We’re all right,” she said. “I’m just a little shocked.”