Hazardous-materials responders work to transfer jet fuel from an overturned tanker to another tanker on Lower Buckeye Road on Monday in Phoenix.
Five people were taken to hospitals Monday morning after a collision involving an 8,000-gallon tanker truck carrying jet fuel.
The tanker had rolled, crushing the cab of a pickupand spilling at least 150 gallons of jet fuel alongside the roadway.
Phoenix fire Capt. Larry Subervi said the 55-year-old male driver of the tanker and the 25-year-old male pickup driver were taken to hospitals in critical condition. Three women who were in separate vehicles were transported with minor injuries. “It’s miraculous that the injuries weren’t much worse,” Subervi said. He said there are reports that a Good Samaritan smashed the window of the pickup that was crushed and helped pull the driver out.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the tanker to overturn on Lower Buckeye Road between 59th and 63rd avenues. The truck had just left Phoenix Goodyear Airport, Subervi said.
A hazardous-materials team was able to stop the fuel leak and “used damming and diking equipment to isolate and absorb the spilled fuel,” Subervi said.
“Currently, there is little to no threat to the environment or population, as the tanker is not leaking,” he said.
Subervi said another tanker was on its way to the scene to take on the remaining jet fuel before the rolled tanker could be righted.