Feb. 17--Investigators spent hours Sunday trying to piece together what little remained of a gasoline tanker that flipped as it exited the Gulf Freeway onto the 610 Loop South, bursting into an inferno that also engulfed and killed the driver, who was attempting to flee to safety in the early morning.
"We don't know what caused the wreck, if the driver was speeding or not. But I can't remember a wreck as bad as this one," said Houston Police spokesman John Cannon.
A witness attempted to assist the 42-year-old driver as he ran from the fiery truck and collapsed, but officials say he never regained consciousness and was later pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. His name was not released, and an autopsy has been ordered.
The intense blaze incinerated all but the wheels and the bottom frame of the 18-wheeler and a vehicle it had been towing, while also scorching the freeway and nearby grass for several hundred yards.
Traffic was shutdown in the northbound lanes of I-45 and eastbound lanes of the South Loop from Woodridge to Broadway for several hours after the wreck occurred at 7:30 a.m. Most lanes did not reopen until 4 p.m., and Houston TranStar reported that the Broadway exit from the 610 Loop east remained closed late Sunday night.
"That area was burned pretty bad from the explosion," a TranStar official said.
According to police reports, the driver of the tanker was headed north on the Gulf Freeway when he attempted to exit onto the South loop.
"But as he moved onto the entrance ramp, he struck a guard rail and then flipped," said Cannon. A heavy-duty wrecker had to be called out to haul off the truck's skeletal remains.
"The arson bureau, vehicular crimes and truck enforcement unit will be conducting a thorough investigation into what happened," Cannon said.
Big rigs can sometimes be more prone to flipping than cars due to weight shifting and center-of-gravity issues, officials said.
Last year, an 18-wheeler flipped and blocked the Interstate 10 east frontage road near Baytown for several hours, and six months ago another 18-wheeler overturned and blocked a frontage road on the Katy freeway, records show.
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