Published: May 19, 2008 11:49 pm            

Sycamore tree helps keep truck from exploding

Interstate closed for more than an hour

TERRE HAUTE — Interstate 70 was closed for more than an hour Monday after a semitrailer carrying explosives crashed near the entrance of a rest area on the Illinois state line.

No one was hurt in the accident, which occurred when a semi hauling 8,500 pounds of dynamite failed to negotiate the ramp leading into the Clear Creek Welcome Center on I-70, west of Terre Haute.

“He just came down to get off the interstate and just missed that turn going into the rest area,” said Keith Holbert, deputy director of operations for the Vigo County Emergency Management Agency.

Authorities closed both lanes of I-70 for more than an hour after the wreck.

There would have been a “very large hole” in the ground if the truck, which also was carrying 26,000 pounds of blasting agent, had exploded, Holbert said.

Dynamite can be detonated by a shock, such as somebody hitting it or dropping it, Holbert said. “We took all precautions necessary to minimize that,” he said. “The trailer is intact and none of the cargo spilled out.”

After the accident, the front of the semi was smashed and the cargo trailer was dented at the rear. Dark lines were visible on the side of the trailer where it scraped against trees.

The semi, owned by Dyno Nobel, an international explosives company, was headed from Missouri to a factory in Montreal, Holbert said.

“It made us all a little nervous,” said Brian Langer of Peffley and Hinshaw Wrecker Service of Terre Haute, which pulled the semi, with the explosives still on board, out of the trick grove of trees where it crashed at the entrance of the rest area. “All in all, [the drivers were] lucky,” he said.

The truck apparently came very close to turning on its side. A 1-foot-diameter sycamore tree kept the semi sitting upright, Holbert said. “It was probably well past its rollover point,” he said.

Crews worked for several hours getting the truck out of the wooded area, Langer said. Around 30 trees had to be cut down to enable a wrecker to tow the truck out of the grove, he added.

The eastbound and westbound lanes of I-70 were closed from 1:05 until 2:12 p.m., according to State Police, which worked the accident along with the Vigo County EMA and the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department.

Dyno Nobel has more than 3,500 employees and is a global leader in the commercial and blasting industries, according to the company’s Web site. The Australia-based company has 36 manufacturing facilities in North America and Australia.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com. Tribune-Star reporter Deb Kelly contributed to this report.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.