Deadly accident

By Brittany Whitley

Published: May 28, 2008

The driver of a tractor-trailer that overturned on U.S. Highway 280 Wednesday, spilling gas and shutting down the roadway, died after being airlifted from the accident scene.
As of press time, the driver’s name had not been released. 

The driver died as a result of multiple blunt-force traumas at 1:08 p.m. (CST) in The Medical Center emergency room in Columbus, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said.

The accident occurred just after noon Wednesday at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Lee Road 379.

U.S. 280 leading into Smiths Station remained closed late Wednesday night as clean-up efforts continued, said State Trooper radio operator Lee Smith.

“The clean-up effort out there is taking forever,” Smith said. “280 is going to be shut down for a while.”

As of press time, the roadway remained closed, and a trooper spokesperson at the Opelika Trooper Post late Wednesday said officials did not know when it would reopen.

Angie Curran, deputy chief of the Friendship Volunteer Fire Department, was at the scene of the accident Wednesday.

The gasoline spill led to the evacuation of a quarter-mile radius including a Marathon Gas Station, two homes and a church, Curran said.

“It appears that the tractor-trailer was coming from Phenix City,” she said.

The tractor-trailer ran off the road and rolled three times, Curran said.

“We’ve lost probably 700 to 800 gallons of fuel,” she said. The fuel was regular and high-test gasoline.

Fuel also leaked into a nearby creek.

The Lee County Emergency Management Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) were called in to clean the contamination, Curran said.

Hazardous material teams from the Columbus and Opelika fire departments were also working to clean up the remaining gasoline.

The spill was contained Wednesday afternoon, Curran said.

The tractor-trailer was operated by Young’s Oil Co., based out of Piedmont, Ala. Another tractor-trailer from the company was being sent to collect the remaining gasoline in the damaged tractor-trailer, Curran said.

Other responder agencies included Smiths Station Water Authority, Lee County Highway Department, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Salem Volunteer Fire Department and East Alabama Medical Center Emergency Medical Services.

737-2525

Vasha Hunt | Opelika-Auburn News
U.S. Highway 280 remained closed Wednesday night as clean up efforts continued.