Five people are killed and five seriously injured after a toxic truck carrying AMMONIA overturns in Illinois: The dead include adults and two small children from the same family
- A toxic truck carrying ammonia overturned in Teutopolis, Illinois
- Five were killed and five others were seriously injured
Five people were killed and five others were seriously injured after a toxic truck carrying ammonia overturned in Illinois.
The dangerous substance leaked from the truck’s cargo and led to a mass evacuation of hundreds of residents in Teutopolis, officials said on Saturday.
The semi-truck was loaded with caustic anhydrous ammonia and overturned around 9:25 a.m. Friday evening. According to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the resulting runoff amounted to more than half of the 7,500 gallons of vehicles loaded.
Effingham County Coroner Kim Rhoades announced after the disaster that three people from the same family – an adult and two children under 12 – lost their lives in the tragedy.
Rhodes added that the other two fatalities were out-of-state drivers and five other people were airlifted to the hospital.
Five people were killed and five others were seriously injured after a toxic truck carrying ammonia overturned in Illinois
The names of those who died or were killed in the accident were not released by authorities.
At a news conference Saturday morning, Effingham County Sheriff Paul Kuhns said crews worked on the scene overnight Saturday and a large cloud was seen rising into the sky from the leak.
The first responders also had difficulty getting to the crash site because the highly toxic substance was released into the area.
“We have many brave firefighters, paramedics, hazardous materials specialists and police officers currently working at this accident scene,” Kuhns said.
He added that the cloud was a “cloud of anhydrous ammonia” that had caused “terribly dangerous air conditions in northeast Teutopolis.”
“Due to these circumstances, crews had to wait.” “They had to mitigate the conditions before they could really start working and it was a fairly large area,” he added.
Cleanup efforts are underway in the area, with private and federal environmental contractors being called to the town of about 1,600 residents.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it was reviewing the crash, spokeswoman Jennifer Gabris told The Associated Press.