INTERSTATE ACCIDENT INJURES 1

The southbound lane of Interstate 55 between Scott City and Benton was closed to traffic for about three hours Monday night following an accident involving a semi-truck and a pickup towing a recreational trailer.

One injury was reported. A female passenger in the pickup truck was taken to Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau by North Scott County Ambulance. The extent of her injuries was not available, but they were not believed to be serious.

The semi-truck driver and the driver of the pickup truck were not injured.

The names of the injured and the drivers were not available. Missouri Highway Patrol officers were still investigating the accident at 11:30 p.m.

The Scott County Sheriff's Department reported the accident to the highway patrol at 8:57 p.m.

Both trucks were southbound when the accident occurred.

At 10:15 p.m., troopers were waiting on two large wreckers to arrive from Sikeston to pry the semi-truck tractor and trailer off of the recreational trailer and pickup, which were wedged together sideways across both traffic lanes on the Ramsey Creek Bridge two miles south of Scott City.

At 11 p.m., radio operator John Kelly at the patrol's satellite office in Sikeston said the interstate probably would be closed until midnight.

Witnesses said the collision occurred about 300 feet north of the Ramsey Creek bridge. After the collision, the semi-truck trailer, loaded with wooden and steel frame doors, tipped over on its side, causing the truck tractor to tip over at a 45-degree angle, rupturing one of its fuel tanks. The leak left a nearly 300-foot-long trail of diesel fuel on the pavement in the southbound passing lane as the vehicles skidded down the highway toward the bridge.

Scott City Fire Chief Les Crump said at one point traffic was backed up almost two miles to near the Scott City limits. Later, officers began diverting some of the stalled traffic across the median to the northbound lane back to Scott City, where it was detoured over old Highway 61 south to Benton, then back to the interstate.

Scott City firefighters stood by as the wreckers separated the vehicles.