Fuel Tanker Explosion on Bridge in US Kills One
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A massive explosion shut down part of Interstate 95 on Friday after a fuel tanker crashed on a major bridge in Connecticut, sending a column of smoke and fire into the air and killing one person, state officials said.
A passenger vehicle’s blown-out tire 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, The New York Times reported.
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 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.
The bridge, which connects the coastal cities of Groton and New London, is a major transportation link in eastern Connecticut near the state’s border with Rhode Island.
The cities it connects 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.
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.
