http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/front/3219823I-35, 410 closed after truck carrying explosives overturns
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO -- A tandem-trailer rig hauling more than a ton of explosive charges rolled over early today, forcing the shutdown of two busy freeways and the evacuation of nearby neighborhoods.
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Police and fire officials said the danger of explosion was low, but that Interstate 35 and Interstate 410 in the city's northeast corner could be closed all day to clean up the scene.
"It's a serious situation, but a stable situation," Randy Jenkins, San Antonio Fire Department spokesman, told KSAT-TV.
The rollover occurred near a nursing home, prompting the evacuation of nearly 200 elderly residents to an elementary school.
Sandy Perez, a police spokeswoman, said about 2,000 residents and workers had to be moved out of an area in a half-mile radius of the crash.
Perez said a passenger in the tandem trailer was taken to a local hospital, and that police were interviewing the truck's driver.
Police say they believe the rig was traveling too fast when it tipped over on a ramp connecting I-35 and westbound lanes of I-410.
Part of its cargo was an estimated 3,200 pounds of detonating charges, which are set off to ignite larger explosions in mines and other industrial uses.
Initial reports indicated ammonium nitrate may have been in one of the tandem trailers, but Jenkins said there was none of the highly explosive material on board.