401 Accident Kingston Today Video – The fire broke out violently after the accident

Sergeant OPP. Kerry Schmidt said the crash happened around 10:30 p.m. and involves two transport trucks and one passenger vehicle.

Schmidt said it appears a fuel truck heading east on Freeway 401 crashed into the center wall below the Brock Road flyover and caught fire.

“The fuel tanker towed two trailers carrying ‘highly flammable fuel’ and the trailers rolled into the westbound lane, causing the tanks to burst into a ball,” he said. Big fire in this area.”

Schmidt said witnesses reported a large fire, heard explosions, saw a “mushroom cloud” of fire and smoke and “the whole night sky lit up in flames”.

Mr. Schmidt said that at the same time as traffic was moving along the highway, another truck in the westbound lane, the same passenger vehicle, was caught in the fireball.

Schmidt said the fuel truck did not appear to have come into contact with the other two vehicles, but fuel spewed from the trailer causing the fire to spread to the other vehicle and the truck.

Two people have died — both male drivers of two trucks, he said, adding that police are notifying family members. Their identities have not yet been made public.

Mr Schmidt said the occupants of the bus, a driver and a passenger, were able to get out without injury.The driver of the other truck was unable to get out in time and is pronounced dead at the scene.

Schmidt said all three vehicles were completely consumed by the fire.

The crash closed Highway 401 in both directions and police said the road was closed due to the fire until the morning rush hour. Commuters have been warned of severe delays while diverting off the highway to avoid the site of the collision.

Drivers heading east can exit Brock Road and then re-enter the highway from collectors. Highway lanes remain closed.

The westbound portion of the motorway is blocked at Highway 412 and motorists can turn around at Liverpool Road.

“Anyone traveling in that area should avoid it as traffic will be heavy this morning when traffic is high,” Schmidt said.

The Department of Transportation is conducting its own investigation into highway cleaning and structural engineering.

Schmidt said the department will determine when motorways can reopen, but so far no official opening date has been announced.

Update: Fatal collision investigation. #Hwy401/Brock Rd Ajax. Morning travel will be affected. Highway closures in place between Westney and Whites. Updates to follow. #TorontoOPP pic.twitter.com/kVBbaCw6Cj

— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) June 21, 2023

The driver told Global News that he and his family missed the crash by just a few seconds.
A young man was on his way home along 401 from Kingston, Ont. arrived in Burlington on Tuesday night said he was one of the last cars to leave the area before the fuel tank truck exploded on the highway.

Justin Grant told Global News he was working on his laptop while his mother was driving and his father and sister were traveling in another car directly in front of them in the direction of the lane. road. West. .

His parents were both driving in the left lane when suddenly he said he heard locusts in the fence separating east and west.

He said he turned his head to the side and saw a large amount of sparks and the truck overturned on the median. When he fully turned around, he said he saw the truck explode.

“It was incredibly faster than I could have imagined, the explosion was huge,” Grant said. “My dad said he felt it radiate heat from inside the car.”

Grant said a truck driving directly behind them was caught in the blast.

“He was only 20, 25, 30 meters away, that’s just average distance and it’s crazy to think it could have been me and my mom just a second before that,” Grant continued.

“It’s such a cinematic explosion that you almost think it’s like coming out of a movie.”

Grant said his mother then veered into the middle lane while his father sped.

“We were basically the last two cars out of that explosion, the fireball,” he said. “We basically looked behind us and then we stopped about 300 meters from the highway because at that point there was no one behind us, just an empty road with extreme fires. big. immediately exploded.”