There has been a massive tanker fire on Route 9 in Sayreville, New Jersey and right now that road is shutdown.
This cleanup is going take hours and perhaps all day. Around 6:30 a.m., there was foam all over the road and that needs to be cleared away. There was also still a thousand gallons of gas inside that tanker and officials need to bring in a private company to take that away.
However, the truck is just a pile of twisted metal now. The accident happened at 2:18 a.m. and the tanker was carrying 9,000 gallons of gas at the time of the crash. The driver was heading southbound when he lost control, flipped over the median and wound up in the northbound lanes. The driver miraculously survived, but left behind a huge mess.
Robert Sklans, Middlesex OEM: "The gasoline ruptured and exploded. A fire ensued. Gasoline also initially went into the storm sewers and ignited causing fires throughout the local neighborhoods in Sayreville."
Meanwhile, officials did have to evacuate about 60 people because of the strong smell of gas.
Officials were able to get the fire out quickly because they brought in a foam truck from the Port Authority.
Also, because gasoline went into the sewer, officials are also dealing with the Coast Guard to see if there was any sort of slick in the Raritan Bay. This is another on-going issue.
As a result of this accident, Route 9 is closed along with Northbound Route 18 and Southbound Route 35.
