Gas tanker truck crashes in Mass.; driver dies

[July 23, 2011]  BOSTON (AP) -- A gasoline tanker truck exploded into flames as it crashed early Saturday just north of Boston, setting off a fireball several feet high, killing the truck driver and injuring four other motorists, state police said.

Fuel from the truck spilled onto the U.S. 1 near Saugus in the 2:30 a.m. crash and flowed into a drainage ditch before going up in flames. State police spokesman David Procopio said two greenhouse buildings and a private home caught fire in a secondary explosion.

Six other vehicles were damaged and some went up in flames as the drivers tried to avoid the crash and fuel gushing from the overturned truck.

The driver of the truck, which belongs to PJ Murphy Transportation Inc. of Methuen, was killed. The company didn't immediately return a call for comment.

Four people were hurt, including one person hospitalized with burns who went into surgery Saturday morning, Procopio said. Three others suffered less severe injuries.

For reasons that are unclear, the tanker slammed into a median, rolled over and exploded into flames, sparking a fireball, police said.

Two buildings in the greenhouse compound were extensively damaged by flames and a private home had less damage, Procopio said. There were no reports of any injuries in those fires.

About 120 people were evacuated from a neighborhood, but they were being allowed to return to their homes several hours after the crash, Procopio said. The blazes were extinguished within three hours of the fuel spill.

Police were checking a nearby bridge for possible structural damage.

The roadway, about 10 miles north of downtown Boston remained closed, but Procopio expected one northbound lane to reopen within an hour. The southbound lanes suffered fire damage from the explosion and would stay closed for longer, Procopio said.

The Department of Environmental Protection was examining the fuel spill.

[Associated Press]

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