SAN FRANCISCO -- A frightening crash on the Golden Gate Bridge that left three people hospitalized with major injuries was caused by a lane change that triggered a series of chain-reaction collisions among eight cars and a motorcycle, the California Highway Patrol said Thursday.

San Francisco resident Ibrahim Shiheiber, 19, and Petaluma resident Lynne Throop, 67, were both in San Francisco General Hospital Thursday expected to recover from their injures. Meanwhile, San Francisco resident Paul Reller, 54, was recovering in Marin General Hospital,

Wednesday afternoon's crash snarled Bay Area commute traffic for hours and both directions of the bridge were blocked for about an hour and 30 minutes while emergency personnel tended to the scene.

The CHP Thursday released a timeline of the pile-up.

At about 2:40 p.m., a green Toyota pickup truck driven by 34-year-old James Myers was traveling in the northbound No. 1 lane when he attempted to move into the No. 2 lane directly into the path of Shiheiber's blue Volvo.

Shiheiber immediately switched from the No. 2 lane to the No. 3 lane and lost control of the vehicle, swerving into the Toyota, according to the CHP. Shiheiber and Myers both then lost control and traveled into the southbound lanes.

The Toyota pickup truck subsequently was struck by a Honda CRX, prompting a motorcyclist traveling behind the Honda to crash into the Honda and the Toyota pickup truck, the CHP reported.

The Volvo continued traveling northbound in the southbound lanes and sideswiped a Land Rover. A Toyota Prius driven by 26-year-old Jette Newell of San Francisco then collided head-on with San Francisco resident Stefanie Buchalter's Lexus in the southbound lanes of the bridge.

A Mazda traveling southbound on the bridge was unable to avoid that collision and struck the rear of the Lexus, according to the CHP.

Meanwhile, the driver of the Land Rover lost control of that vehicle and continued into the oncoming southbound lanes where a Jeep Cherokee struck the Land Rover.

The 41-year-old motorcyclist involved in the crash, San Anselmo resident Michael Wahl, suffered moderate injuries and was transported to San Francisco General Hospital.

Three people suffered minor injuries in the crash -- Buchalter and Newell were transported to San Francisco General for treatment. A juvenile passenger in the Lexus was uninjured, according to the CHP.

Meanwhile, Myers did not sustain any injuries, the CHP reported.

The accident remained under investigation.