Oil tanker explodes in collision

LOWER MAKEFIELD, Pa. - March 24, 2008 Officials tell Action News a tanker carrying oil, a dump truck and a passenger vehicle all collided.

"Flames, charred vehicles, people running everywhere, and cop cars everywhere," Garret Urglavitch of Lower Makefield said.

Urglavitch shot video of the incident as it was developing.

First responders feared that there were people inside the vehicles.

"The officers that responded to the scene, got out of the car and immediately raced up to the vehicles, thought they had people trapped. They couldn't get within a half of a block of the vehicles from the intense heat," Chief Ken Coluzzi of Lower Makefield Township said.

Fortunately, everyone got out safely before the wreckage burst into flames.

It appeared a large dump truck collided with the tanker. The rear wheels of the tanker ended up crushing the front end of a passenger car. Police say it is still too early to tell who, if anyone, was at fault.

A hazardous materials clean up is underway. Some of the fuel oil contaminated lawns and spilled into storm drains that empty into the scenic Delaware canal where the heating oil has now been contained.

The intense heat and oil spill also damaged the road surface at the crash site and it will have to be replaced.