An explosion that officials say was caused by a collision involving a tractor-trailer and a transit bus in Clifton, New Jersey, left a truck driver dead and forced evacuations of homes in the surrounding area on Monday.
According to Fox 5 New York, the Passaic County Prosecutor noted that the truck driver of the tractor-trailer was killed after the truck exploded and caught fire on Route 3 in Clifton, New Jersey. The outlet reported that the explosion caused multiple highway lanes to be temporarily closed and resulted in the evacuation of multiple homes in the area.
ABC 7 reported that Clifton Fire Department Acting Chief Daniel Collins said Monday’s crash was caused by a tractor-trailer colliding with a New Jersey transit bus. Following the collision, the truck crashed through a sound barrier and exploded behind multiple houses.
Collins explained that while the truck is believed to have been carrying a corrosive substance, the chemical has not yet been identified. The acting fire chief said, “The truck had placards on it, from the best that we could determine, that said it was carrying corrosive and explosive chemicals.”
According to ABC 7, the 55-year-old driver of the tractor-trailer was found after firefighters were able to contain the fire. Meanwhile, the outlet noted that all 29 passengers on the bus survived the incident.
READ MORE: Explosion leaves 4 injured in southern state
The Clifton Police Department told Fox 5 New York that the department received an emergency call of a commercial vehicle on fire shortly after 9 a.m. on Monday. The outlet reported that the first police officer to arrive at the scene of the crash witnessed multiple secondary explosions.
A video shared by Raws Alerts on X, formerly Twitter, shows the explosions and fire caused by Monday’s major vehicle crash.
“Watch as numerous emergency personnel, along with Hazmat, respond to a major tractor-trailer accident earlier this morning that closed lanes of a highway and forced evacuations of nearby homes in Clifton, New Jersey,” Raws Alerts tweeted. “Officials say a bus rear-ended the truck, which was filled with chemicals which caused it to crash into a barrier wall. This resulted in a major explosion and fireball as numerous drums full of chemicals exploded from the truck.”
Raws Alerts added that authorities are still working to identify the chemicals involved in Monday’s explosion to determine “if it’s safe to go near them.”
