Truck Accidents 360 Newswire

CATSKILL, NY – A truck accident in the early hours on Monday morning, June 28, spilled a large amount of its chemical cargo on the New York Thruway in Greene County, New York. The single vehicle collision occurred in the northbound lanes of the highway between the towns of Saugerties and Catskill, NY. The accident area is in the north central section of the state, about 35 miles south of Albany, NY and about 42 miles west of Canaan, Connecticut.

At about 1:50 a.m. Monday morning 55 year old Robert Lawrence of Galway, NY was driving a semi tanker truck north on the New York Thruway in Greene County, NY. Mr. Lawrence was driving a tanker truck owned by Slack Chemical Company based in Cartage, NY. He was carrying a cargo of about 4,700 gallons of hypochlorite solution, a bleach-like chemical. According to experts the chemical is similar to swimming pool-shock treatment and stronger than regular household bleach. 

As Mr. Lawrence drove his tanker truck north on the thruway he apparently encountered a deer on the highway between exits 20 and 21. He lost control of his rig when he swerved his large truck to avoid hitting the animal. The tanker truck crashed into the guardrail at the side of the thruway and then flipped over onto its side close to mile marker 110.9. The force of the truck accident damaged the tank and it spilled about 3,200 gallons of its chemical cargo out onto the highway.

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Numerous departments responded to the truck accident scene including several local fire and rescue teams and officials with the New York State Police.
The driver suffered minor injuries in the rollover truck accident. He was transported via ground ambulance to Albany Medical Center Hospital where he was treated for lacerations and released sometime Monday.

NY State Police shut down the thruway surrounding the truck accident site between Saugerties and Catskill while the various crews worked to clean and contain the chemical spill. Departments working on the spill included NY State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Greene County HazMat Team. They were able to keep the chemical from entering the nearby water systems and also keep it from harming area wildlife. Workers also monitored air quality and tested for chemical contamination.

The northbound lanes of the NY Thruway around the tanker truck accident were closed for about seven hours. NYSP rerouted vehicles at exit 20 and at times traffic was backed up for ten miles. The lanes were finally reopened at about 9:00 a.m. Monday morning.

At this time no charges have been made and the truck accident remains under investigation.

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