Tractor-trailer carrying Navy missiles overturns in Maryland; no injuries reported

By Stephen Manning

Associated Press

MIDDLETOWN, Md. – A tractor-trailer carrying Navy missiles ran off a highway and overturned Friday, forcing the evacuation of a 1-mile area as a precaution.

The missiles did not spill from the truck, which careened down a deep embankment and ended up on its side in a ditch alongside Interstate 70, about 10 miles from Frederick.

The driver was unharmed but trapped inside, authorities said. The truck hit a concrete construction barrier before it overturned, said John Randt, spokesman for the Military Traffic Management Command.

The driver was cited by Maryland authorities for negligence, Randt said. Forty-one people from 26 nearby homes were evacuated, he said.

“Right now everything appears to be OK, but we’re just trying to secure the area to make sure it stays that way,” said Cpl. Robert Calo, a state police spokesman.

Randt said a special military team that handles explosives was at the scene, and another was on the way Friday afternoon.

The company that owns the truck, Tri-State Motor Transit, of Joplin, Mo., said it also owns a tractor-trailer that overturned Thursday night near St. Albans, W.Va., while carrying 42,000 pounds of military explosive powder.

The powder is used to fire 155mm mortar shells, Randt said.

Schools in that area, about 15 miles from Charleston, were closed Friday and rush-hour traffic delayed as crews cleaned up the spill on Interstate 64. About 125 people evacuated Thursday were allowed to return Friday morning.

The driver, who was not injured, lost control of the truck during a coughing fit after a sip of coffee, West Virginia state police Capt. A.M. Sovastion said. His wife, who also was in the vehicle, was treated for minor injuries.

A Tri-State spokesman did not immediately return a call for additional comment.

The truck that crashed in Maryland was carrying Navy missiles, said Jim Hill, an Army spokesman in Washington. Randt said other details of the shipment, which was from St. Louis, Mo., to New Jersey, were classified.

All missile shipments have security escorts following in another vehicle, Randt said.

The accident happened about 60 miles west of Baltimore.