Truck Carrying Explosives Blows Up in Utah

[deminks]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050811/ap_on_re_us/truck_explosion

By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago

SALT LAKE CITY - A tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded Wednesday, injuring four people and leaving a huge crater in a Utah highway.

The truck driver, a passenger in the cab, a motorist and a man on a motorcycle were hospitalized after the truck "pretty much vaporized," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

The explosion left a crater in two-lane U.S. 6 estimated to be between 20 feet and 35 feet deep, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said.

The rig, from R&R Trucking of Duenweg, Mo., had just left commercial explosives maker Ensign-Bickford Co. at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon when the accident happened. The truck was headed to Oklahoma, company officials said. They wouldn't say what type of explosives the truck was carrying.

[Blue_Tires]

1. wow

call me naive, but i didn't even know it was legal to haul that much on open roads

[AuntiBush]

6. You Would Think, Blue_Tires...

[niallmac]

13. Your supposed to keep back three car lengths.

[Conservativesux]

19. Happens all the time. Safer then driving next to a gasoline truck.

[yellowcanine]

36. Heh. One time I was driving and a truck in the next lane was sloshing

gasoline out of the saddle tank (the cap was missing). Then I started thinking about how many smokers flip lit cigarettes out of their windows and I darn near shit my pants. I stepped on it and got out of there.

[slackmaster]

25. It goes on all the time, and railroads carry far larger loads

Trains carrying millions of pounds of explosive chemicals like ammonium nitrate cross highways and go through populated areas constantly.

[Blue_Tires]

31. i figured the trains would carry the stuff

i guess i didn't know about the size of the quantities in trucks...makes you wonder what else could get overturned at the whim of a wayward driver....

[slackmaster]

32. Truck drivers want to stay alive just like the rest of us

Wayward driver? :wtf:

I suppose one could also express concern about wayward railroad engineers deliberately crashing or derailing trains.

[Blue_Tires]

33. i meant other wayward drivers...

as you know, you can be a perfect textbook driver, and still crash due to the carelessness of others

[slackmaster]

34. The same applies to trains

Trains do get derailed because of careless or reckless or negligent behavior beyond the control of the engineer.

[deminks]

2. Here is an AP photo

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/050811/480/utsal10208110309

In this image from video, shown is a crater left when a tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded, injuring four people and leaving a huge crater on U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon near Thistle, Utah, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2005. (AP Photo/KSL-TV Chopper 5 via The Deseret Morning News, Kerry Jensen)

[LisaL]

3. Hard to believe everybody got out alive.

[truthisfreedom]

18. wow, they were so incredibly lucky. speedy recoveries to all of them!

[shadowknows69]

4. how the hell did those people survive it?

Of course i'm glad they did but the truck vaporized?

[LisaL]

7. The truth is out there.

:shrug:

[formercia]

27. the truck probably caught fire

and the HE cooked off after a while.

that plant makes initiator systems.

They tend to be more sensitive

[uppityperson]

5. wow

that is quite something.

[deminks]

8. Another AP photo

[Daphne08]

17. OMG. This photo really puts it in perspective!

[Vickers]

22. Holy cow! Unreal that there are any folks alive after that.

Buy some lottery tickets, PRONTO!

[RobertSeattle]

9. 10 Pounds of explosives can do a great deal of damage

35K - Yowza!

[Norquist Nemesis]

10. Is there a chemical plant in Oklahoma?

Michigan one day, Texas the next. Oh well, business as usual. Carry on.

[Catch22Dem]

11. There's a weapons manufacturing place

It's an Army facility.

[hang a left]

12. That definately looks like it was

"Professional" explosives from Iran. Someone get Rummy on the phone!

[burrowowl]

15. No! OSHA!

what is OSHA? Who knows?
Only the Shadow knows!

[Nothing Without Hope]

16. That was my first thought too! Watch out for those Iranians! Then my

second thought came: did the drivers really know how dangerous their load was? And then my third thought: did this truck drive through populated areas where people would be near the road?

Amazing that anyone survived this explosion.

[0007]

23. Rummy sez that if the unknowns are knowns then the absolutes

are highly questionable.

[Rainscents]

14. Wow, I am speechless. OMG, how did anyone survived?

[KoKo]

20. How can a truck just "vaporize?" There's nothing there in that crater...

Surely there would be some kind of burned wreckage.

Haven't we read about folks in Iraq being Vaporized in the Falluja Battle? Were they using the same chemicals that were on the truck?

How did the driver and others get out? So many questions.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. They got out before it exploded

The driver, Travis Stewart, 30, was flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was in fair condition, spokesman Chris Nelson said.

Troy Lysfjord, 37, was lying down in the back of the cab when the accident occurred. He told The Salt Lake Tribune that he helped Stewart out of his seat belt and they climbed out of the cab with the help of nearby motorists.

By that time, between 20 and 30 people had gathered around the wreckage to help and Lysfjord said he shouted, "It's explosives! Get out of here."

"I was close enough that it literally picked me up off my feet and threw me on the ground," he told the newspaper. "I felt it literally all the way through me."

Which I presume means there was a small fire, which set off the explosives after a few minutes.

[lilymidnite]

26. Some local news photos show burned chassis

pieces ...

[Zynx]

29. Not vaporized, blown to bits and thousands of feet away

Non-nuclear explosions don't tend to literally vaporize material.

[lilymidnite]

24. Truckers are always turning over on that stretch of road

That's one of the most dangerous stretches of road in Utah. People are killed there weekly. It's the main road from Salt Lake to Moab, so it's very busy.

I've been seriously tailgated by a trucker through there in a narrow, winding section -- no place to pull over. Those truckers are out of control!!

Lucky no one was killed, indeed.

And, they want to transport high-level nuclear waste through Salt Lake City.

L.

[tocqueville]

28. Truck of explosives detonates on highway (US)

Vehicle was 'pretty much vaporized'

Thursday, August 11, 2005 Posted: 1159 GMT (1959 HKT)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AP) -- A tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded Wednesday, injuring four people and leaving a huge crater in a Utah highway.

The truck driver, a passenger in the cab, a motorist and a motorcycle rider were hospitalized after the truck "pretty much vaporized," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

The explosion left a crater in two-lane U.S. 6 estimated to be between 20 feet and 35 feet deep, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said.

"The entire road is gone, shoulder to shoulder, there's no asphalt left," he said

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/08/10/truck.explosion.ap/index.html
__________________________________________________________________
(which shows that the WMDS are already inside)

[Renew Deal]

30. Multiple chemical plant explosions

And now this? I'm going to have to strap it on tight. :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[lostnfound]

35. Why the HE*** has this NOT been on CNN????

Guess they don't want publicity??
Too busy covering day 73 of missing woman in Aruba??

UFB.

[deminks]

37. Update: Truck driver could face charges

http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2005/08/12/news/regional/70f86d1049f9a4638725705a007ce5c4.txt

SALT LAKE CITY -- Police on Thursday said they anticipated charges would be filed against the truck driver whose semitrailer full of explosives overturned and exploded on a federal highway, leaving a crater three stories deep.

"Speed was a factor," said Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Ken Peay.

The explosives, which contained TNT, are used in seismic exploration and mining, Peay said.

Twenty-five employees worked overnight to start refilling the crater, which was 30 feet deep and 70 feet wide. That was completed Thursday, when crews were to begin putting down 10 inches of asphalt to recreate the two-lane road that serves as a major connection between Salt Lake City and Denver.

[deminks]

38. Update on Explosive: Material in canyon blast came from Spanish Fork plant

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2935182?rss

The material aboard a truck that blew up in Spanish Fork Canyon on Wednesday was made at plant in Spanish Fork that pumps out more than 4 million pounds of explosives a year.
Known as a pentolite explosive, the deadly substance is a mixture of TNT and PETN, a powerful explosive sometimes used in land mines and detonation cords.
"One of the benefits is that it's extremely impact-sensitive. But obviously, as with all explosives, it has a sensitivity to flame and extreme heat," said Peter Barnett, general manager of the Ensign-Bickford Co. plant, which has sat at the canyon's mouth since 1940.
On Wednesday, the truck was speeding uphill under a load of pentolite weighing almost 18 tons. The material had been formed into cast boosters - seismic charges used for oil and gas exploration. Cast boosters are inserted in bore holes drilled into promising geologic formations. Scientists use the resulting blast waves to create three-dimensional pictures of underground rock structures that may hold hydrocarbons.

[OzarkDem]

39. Your tax dollars at work

Explosives were headed to OK for use in oil well drilling. Looks like those tax breaks given to oil companies in the energy bill are paying off.

One reason why rising energy prices are good for Bushco and the GOP crime family is because they eventually pass the profitability threshold necessary to resume domestic drilling.

Too bad, the taxpayers have to foot the cost of fixing the road, too.