HOUSTON -- A chain-reaction accident caused a tanker truck to explode into flames Tuesday afternoon, shutting down both directions of the West Loop for hours.

Video

Witnesses Describe Accident, Inferno

The major accident involved three vehicles on the northbound lanes of Loop 610, south of Highway 59 at Fournace, at about 12:45 p.m.

In addition to both the northbound and southbound lanes closing, the service road was also shut down. Only the southbound lanes were reopened by 2:30 p.m. One northbound lane was still closed for resurfacing at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Local 2 spoke with a driver involved in the accident.

"There was an oil tanker heading down 610. He either got caught in an exit lane or he was exiting and he was going too fast, and the traffic was stopped. He slammed on his brakes. As he slammed, he began to swerve into another lane, which caused him to begin to spin. He hit cars on the exit lane. Then, he began to roll over and he smashed into another car which began to spin and that car smashed into my car," Nanett Cooms said. "We all came to a stop immediately, and the tanker lay there and then just burst into flames."

"It was happening so fast. I just know that the vehicle in front of me slowed down, so I had to get out the lane because the truck was going to hit me," driver Anthony Scott said. "The 18-wheeler was speeding so fast that I didn't have enough time to go all the way into the lane, so I hit the left tail-side to my car. After I swerved, I just know a lot of cars (were) crashing -- in back of me and in front."

Fire officials said the tanker was carrying gasoline.

Five people were treated for minor injuries at the scene -- mainly neck and back pain.

The big rig's driver was transported to Memorial Hermann Hospital in stable condition.

One firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation.

"There's been no life-threatening injuries that we know of," said Tommy Dowdy, a Houston Fire Department district chief.

Traffic was backed up for miles, so motorists were advised to avoid the area.

"This is a highly, highly populated area for travel, so we want people to start making some plans, especially for the northbound lanes. The northbound lanes -- we have to have some team meetings with some other members, probably from TxDot, some engineers to confirm the freeway is safe, the guardrail," said Rick Flanagan, with the Houston Fire Department.

Emergency officials said it could have been much worse.

"This is another example of a renegade 18-wheeler truck driver driving too fast. You'd expect better from a gentleman that's got 8,000 gallons of diesel on board," said C.J. Klausner, with the Houston Police Department.

Transeastern Trucking owned the big rig, according to the Fire Department.

Programming Note: Since Days Of Our Lives was preempted by the news coverage of the tanker fire, it will be rebroadcast from 3:11 a.m.- 4:11 a.m. Tuesday.

Road Condition Information:

• Houston TranStar Real-Time Traffic Map


• Traffic Pulse Real-Time Traffic Map


• Traffic Section


• Houston Transtar


• Texas Dept. of Transportation Web site or call (800) 452-9292


• Harris County Office of Emergency Management Web site

GET BREAKING NEWS ALERTS: