Fuel tanker explosion on major highway bridge in US kills 1 person, injures at least 2
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Workers inspecting the Gold Star Memorial Bridge on Interstate 95 after a fuel tanker crashed and burned on the bridge in Groton on April 21.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
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CONNECTICUT – A massive explosion shut down part of the US’ Interstate 95 highway on Friday after a fuel tanker crashed on a major bridge in Connecticut, sending a column of smoke and fire into the sky and killing one person, state officials said.
A passenger vehicle’s blown-out tyre set off a chain reaction that resulted in the explosion, which also injured at least two others on the bridge, melted part of the bridge’s outer guard rail and spewed a large amount of home heating oil into the waters of the Thames River, local officials said.
Sergeant Christine Jeltema, a spokesman for the Connecticut State Police, said the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 “will be closed for quite some time” as officials determine whether the bridge, the Gold Star Memorial, is safe to cross.
“The intense, wicked heat could potentially compromise the steel, but we hope that is not the case,” said Governor Ned Lamont at a news conference on Friday.
He said it was not clear how much fuel the truck was carrying at the time of the crash, but that its maximum capacity was 2,800 gallons (10,600 litres).
The bridge, which connects the coastal cities of Groton and New London, is a major transportation link in eastern Connecticut near the border with Rhode Island.
The cities are home to several universities as well as a significant military presence, including the US Coast Guard Academy and Naval Submarine Base New London, the main naval hub for attack submarines on the East Coast.
An estimated 60,000 vehicles use the bridge each day, said Mr Garrett Eucalitto, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation.
A department spokesman said later that an inspection had found no damage to the steel, and that the bridge would reopen to vehicle traffic.
Trooper First Class Pedro Muniz of the Connecticut State Police said that injuries were reported after the 11.30am accident, but it was unclear how many or how severe they were. He said that officials were asking people to avoid the area.
Mayor Michael Passero of New London said in a text message to The New York Times that the driver of the oil truck died at the scene, and later added that two others were taken to a nearby hospital with injuries sustained in the explosion.
Buildings below the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, a pair of steel-truss bridges on the Thames River, were also on fire, the Connecticut State Police said on Twitter.
Several agencies, including the US Coast Guard, responded to the blast.
The bridge, which connects the coastal cities of Groton and New London, is a major transportation link.
PHOTO: NYTIMES
Officials closed the highway between exits 86 and 88, Mr Muniz said, and the bridge was closed in both directions for part of the day.
Amtrak reported one delay along the north-east corridor, which has railway tracks near the accident, but service resumed within 30 minutes, according to Jen Flanagan, a spokesman.
Fatal accidents involving tanker trucks are not uncommon in the United States.
Collisions with large trucks killed 5,759 people in 2021, out of a total of about 40,000 fatal crashes, according to the US Department of Transportation, the latest year for which data is available.
That was an increase from 4,870 people killed in such crashes in 2020, it said. NYTIMES
