TRUCK ACCIDENT TIES UP INTERSTATE TRAFFIC

Tragedy was narrowly averted on Interstate 55 north of Cape Girardeau Wednesday when a southbound tractor-trailer truck crossed the median, lost its fuel tank and came to rest in the northbound lanes.

The truck, belonging to Jeadon Trucking of Harrisburg, Ill., was traveling southbound near the Jackson-Fruitland interchange when the accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m.

Traffic on the interstate was backed up for a mile, coming to a complete stop at one point as two tow trucks worked to pull the truck from where it came to rest.

Trooper Brad Lively of the Missouri Highway Patrol said the driver of the truck, Donald Crane, 58, of Centralia, Ill., was driving in the right-hand lane of the interstate when he came over a hill and saw a slow-moving tractor-trailer in his lane. Crane swerved to avoid hitting the truck, which was towing half of a double-wide trailer.

When he swerved, Crane lost control of his truck, sending it across the interstate median. As it traveled over the emergency vehicle crossover lane, the truck's fuel tank apparently became dislodged, Lively said.

Firefighters from the Fruitland Fire District said it appeared that once dislodged the tank caught fire and began rolling in the grass of the median. Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire before much of the grass was burned.

The truck continued traveling east, crossing both northbound lanes of I-55 before coming to a halt in an embankment on the side of the interstate. The trailer continued to stick out into the interstate, blocking the right-hand lane.

"We're just fortunate that no one was in the northbound lanes at the time. Otherwise, there would have been big-time fatalities," Lively said.

Crane, who was wearing his seat belt when the accident occurred, complained of chest pains following the accident but was apparently not injured from the accident, Lively said. He was transported by ambulance to St. Francis Medical Center.