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Massive tractor-trailer accident on I-95 south kills truck driver, snarls traffic for many miles around Date published: 7/8/2005
By BILL FREEHLING A tractor-trailer carrying hazardous materials crashed in Spotsylvania County early yesterday, killing its driver, closing southbound Interstate 95 near Massaponax and paralyzing the region for about 24 hours. All three lanes of I-95 south were closed all day between Exits 118 and 126. Officials hoped to re-open the road between midnight and 2 a.m. today. Between 500 and 1,000 gallons of toxic herbicide spilled when the truck crashed into another about 1 a.m. at the highway's 122-mile marker, police said. The collision and chemical spill sent nearly a dozen people to the hospital. The accident occurred when three tractor-trailers traveling south in the right lane came upon a work zone, said Sgt. Les Tyler of the Virginia State Police. The first tractor-trailer, driven by 57-year-old Baltimore resident George L. Mathews, stopped. So did the second, driven by Vladimir L. Karmanov, a 36-year-old from Quebec, Canada. The third tractor-trailer crashed into the second, which hit the first. The rig was carrying 14 tanks that held 275 gallons each of the chemical. Three to five of the tanks burst, Tyler said. The driver, 41-year-old Neil C. Irelan of Conway, Ark., died at the scene. He would have turned 42 today, Tyler said. Mathews and Karmanov were treated and released at Mary Washington Hospital, police said. Tyler said two state troopers and about six to eight rescue-squad workers were exposed to the chemical and taken to the hospital. Many people cleaning up the chemical were sprayed down at the scene in showers that were set up for that purpose. Workers drank Gatorade and were treated by medics in a makeshift tent. A portable restroom was brought to the site. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality asked the state Department of Transportation to mill and repave the contaminated asphalt on all three southbound lanes of I-95. VDOT spokeswoman Tina Bundy said crews couldn't begin work until the chemicals and truck wreckage were removed from the road about 9 p.m. "It's going very slow," she said at 10:30 p.m. Rain was hampering the operation, but VDOT hoped to have one lane re-paved and open by midnight, she said.
Date published: 7/8/2005
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