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Fuel Tanker Explosion on Connecticut Bridge Kills at Least One Person Fuel Tanker Explosion on Connecticut Bridge Kills One Person
(about 3 hours later)
A fuel tanker crashed and rolled over on a major bridge in Connecticut on Friday, causing a massive explosion that shut down a part of Interstate 95, state officials said. At least one person was dead and the state police said injuries had been reported. 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.
Reports and photos emerged late Friday morning showing thick clouds of smoke and flames shooting out over the Gold Star Memorial Bridge, which connects the coastal Connecticut cities of Groton and New London. 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.
Trooper First Class Pedro Muniz of the Connecticut State Police said that injuries were reported after the 11:30 a.m. 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.” Sgt. Christine Jeltema, a spokeswoman 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.
Buildings below the Golden Star Memorial Bridge, a pair of steel truss bridges on the Thames River, were also on fire, the Connecticut State Police said on Twitter. “Injuries reported but extent is unknown at this time,” the police wrote, warning people to avoid the area. “The intense, wicked heat could potentially compromise the steel, but we hope that is not the case,” said Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, 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.
Officials closed the highway between exits 86 and 88, Trooper Muniz said, and the bridge was closed in both directions for part of the day. Amtrak reported some delays along the Northeast corridor, which has tracks near the accident. 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.
Several agencies, including the Coast Guard, are responding. The cities it connects are home to several universities as well as a significant military presence, including the United States Coast Guard Academy and Naval Submarine Base New London, the main naval hub for attack submarines on the East Coast.
Johnny Diaz contributed reporting. An estimated 60,000 vehicles use the bridge each day, Garrett T. Eucalitto, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation, said at the news conference.
“It is going to require us to take an extensive look at the steel structure to see when it will be safe to reopen it,” he said.
Trooper First Class Pedro Muniz of the Connecticut State Police said that injuries were reported after the 11:30 a.m. 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 Coast Guard, responded to the blast. Officials closed the highway between exits 86 and 88, Trooper Muniz said, and the bridge was closed in both directions for part of the day.
Amtrak reported one delay along the Northeast corridor, which has tracks near the accident, but service resumed within 30 minutes, according to Jen Flanagan, a spokeswoman.
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 U.S. 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.
Johnny Diaz and Asmaa Elkeurti contributed reporting.