Truck ‘vaporized’ when cargo explodes

35,500 pounds of explosives go off, blast huge crater in Utah highway

Photo features

Reuters	The Week in Pictures Fiery soccer celebration, ground zero, big yellow taxis, meteor shower, the Taj Mahal reflected and more news and feature photos from around the globe.
Moody Pet via AP	PhotoBlog View and discuss the pictures and issues that caught our eyes.

Breaking news alerts (about 1 per day)
Click here to sign up or text NEWS to MSNBC (67622).

Find more alerts at alerts.msnbc.com

NBC Field Notes

NBC News correspondents and producers across the U.S. shed light on the news of the day.

updated 6:51 p.m. ET Aug. 10, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY - A truck carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives crashed and exploded Wednesday, leaving a huge crater in a Utah highway and injuring at least four people.

The driver was able to get out and warn other motorists away before the truck exploded. But a passenger in the truck cab and other motorists were rushed to hospitals with injuries, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

Two people were in critical condition and another was in satisfactory condition at a hospital in Provo, LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez said.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

Another person was taken by helicopter to University of Utah Hospital, spokesman Chris Nelson said. That person’s condition wasn’t released.

It wasn’t immediately clear why the truck crashed, Royce said. He said the truck was “pretty much vaporized” in the explosion and both lanes of Highway 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon, about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City, were gutted by the blast.

Several small fires in the hills above the accident scene were believed to have been triggered by flying debris, and nearby rail lines were damaged.

The rig with a 6-foot trailer from R&R Trucking of Missouri had just left commercial explosives maker Ensign-Bickford at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon when the accident happened. The truck was headed to Oklahoma, company officials said.

Officials wouldn’t say what type of explosives the truck was carrying.

Hal Jaussi, an Ensign-Bickman manager, said the trucking company “met federal regulations for transporting explosives.”