Deadly crash involving fuel tanker shuts down freeway in Los Angeles

One person is dead and two others injured after a crash involving a fuel tanker that shut down all lanes of the 110 Freeway in South Los Angeles Saturday night.

The crash occurred on the northbound side of the 110 between Manchester Avenue and Century Boulevard just before 10 p.m., according to preliminary information.

Around 100 gallons of jet fuel spilled onto the roadway due to the collision, which involved two other vehicles in addition to the tanker, and video obtained by KTLA shows fuel spilling out of the overturned truck, which came to rest on top of a black sedan.

Motorists were seen standing in the freeway, completely stuck, and one man who witnessed the crash said he saw the tanker suddenly swerve left while he was driving.

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“I don’t know what happened, but I saw [the truck] going towards the left,” said the unidentified man. “The truck was the one that caused the entire accident…I don’t know if somebody hit him, but from what I know, the truck [swerved left].”

One person died in the crash and two others were hospitalized. The unidentified decedent was driving the sedan that was crushed by the truck and died at the scene, authorities said.

The two injured individuals were only listed as a 30-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man, both of whom suffered minor injuries.

Witnesses said that the truck driver survived and was driven to a hospital on his own; fire officials stated in an update issued at 6 a.m. Sunday that they had no contact with the driver of the truck.

The fuel leak situation was described as “static” by LAFD Cpt. Cody Weireter hours after the crash, saying that while the main leak was pretty much contained, smaller leaks continued to pose a challenge, as did the flammability of the fuel.

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“At this point, it is a static situation in the sense of the leak,” Cpt. Weireter said early Sunday morning. “However, we do have that flash potential from the fuel inside the [truck], so firefighters aren’t taking any chances. They are in full protective equipment with their face pieces on, on oxygen and with a hose line deployed in the event that we have any kind of ignition source.”

Both sides of the 110 Freeway between Manchester Avenue and Century Boulevard were closed while the cleanup process continued, but the southbound lanes reopened as of 7 a.m. Sunday. The connector ramps to the 105 Freeway were also shut down after the collision.

The truck remained overturned on the northbound side of the freeway early Sunday morning, although crews had finished removing the fuel from the truck, allowing for CHP to begin a death investigation.

A CHP spokesperson confirmed to KTLA that the northbound lanes may potentially be closed until at least 11 a.m.

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A private company will work to get the truck back on its wheels and prepare it for removal, LAFD said.

What caused the crash has not been determined.

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