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A semi-truck carrying the chemical was found overturned on US Highway 40 in Teutopolis around 9:30 p.m. Friday, causing dangerous air conditions and mandatory evacuations for roughly 500 residents.
Five people, including two children, were killed and five others seriously injured after a truck carrying anhydrous ammonia overturned during a multi-vehicle accident in central Illinois, officials confirmed Saturday.
A semi-truck carrying the chemical was found overturned on US Highway 40 in Teutopolis around 9:30 p.m. Friday, causing dangerous air conditions and mandatory evacuations for roughly 500 residents.
Three semi-trucks were involved in the accident and one vehicle caught fire. The tanker carrying the ammonia began leaking after it rolled into a ditch.
Three adults and two children died after the gas leak. The kids, whose ages are unknown, and one adult were members of the same family and lived in the area, according to WCIA.
One of the other deceased victims was from Missouri, while the fifth, the truck driver, was from Ohio, the station reported.
Another five victims were airlifted to the hospital, and parts of Teutopolis and places within a one-mile of the spill is under an evacuation order set to expire Sunday morning.
Emergency crews are working to clean up the crash, where the semi still had a half tank of ammonia, according to the local outlet. Hazmat teams are working to remove the toxic chemical, which has caused a cloud of ammonia to plume in the air.
The accident caused “a large plume cloud of anhydrous ammonia on the roadway that caused terribly dangerous air conditions in the northeast area of Teutopolis,” Effingham County Sheriff Paul Kuhns said.
“Because of these conditions, the emergency responders had to wait. They had to mitigate the conditions before they could really get to work on it, and it was a fairly large area.”
Overnight wind wreaked havoc for emergency crews, leading to the fire department to station crews in different areas to “report back on which way the wind’s going.”
A 15-person team from the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Anhydrous ammonia is used by farmers to add nitrogen fertilizer to the soil, and it’s also used as a refrigerant in the cooling systems of large buildings such as warehouses and factories. According to the American Chemical Society, it is carried around the United States by pipeline, trucks and trains.
With Post wires.
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