Blowout leads to fiery, fatal crash in Tennessee

The Trucker News Services

5/1/2008

BOSSIER CITY, La. — A truck driver was killed on Interstate 20 in Bossier Parish when his truck crashed after experiencing a blowout Thursday morning.

The truck careened across the interstate and hit a car before overturning and catching fire. Rescue workers could not free him from the wreckage before he burned alive.

Two people in the car were injured — one critically.

The 8 a.m. accident shut down westbound I-20, and the eastbound lanes were down to one lane late this morning. Louisiana State Police were urging motorists to avoid the area.

The accident happened one mile east of the Bossier City limits. State police said the 18-wheeler was eastbound when the left front tire blew out.

The truck veered across the median, crashed into a Saturn car and then continued out of control, State Police said. The 18-wheeler then ran off the westbound lanes of the interstate and flipped, coming to rest in a ditch.

The truck driver was trapped. His rig caught fire before rescue workers could free him.

The conditions of the people in the Saturn had not been released at mid-morning. Troopers were attempting to identify the truck driver.