Thistle, Utah — A tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded Wednesday, injuring four people and leaving a huge crater in a Utah highway.
The truck driver, a passenger in the cab, a motorist and a man on a motorcycle were hospitalized after the truck "pretty much vaporized," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.
The explosion left a crater in two-lane U.S. 6 estimated to be between 20 feet and 35 feet deep, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said.
"The entire road is gone, shoulder to shoulder, there's no asphalt left," he said.
Witnesses said the truck's driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle after taking a curve at high speed, Highway Patrol Lt. Doug McCleve said.
Witnesses rushed to help the driver and his passenger, freeing the pair from their safety belts, McCleve said.
The dazed driver was just coherent enough to say the word "explosive," giving rescuers a sense of the danger, he said.
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