FedEx semi blows up in St. Louis....

[Dr Mordrid]

Not much info available, but the helicopter images look gruesome.

Supposedly a car hit the trailer, which exploded on impact spreading debris for hundreds of feet. The trucks fuel tanks are intact, so they were'nt the cause. You'd never know that it was a truck save for the cab.

Developing....

Dr. Mordrid

[Jessterw]

I'm assuming the driver didn't make it out alive? I wouldn't jump to conclusions, but it's a pretty bad thing to have happen regardless.

[GNEP]

Sheesh... was it in a built up area Doc? Hope not many were hurt.

[Dr Mordrid]

The trucks driver & co-driver made it out, but no word on the car...if indeed there was a car.

That part of I-70 is near the bridge between St. Louis and Illinois and is pretty much one of those freeways built in a wide trench. Lucky the traffic wasn't heavy at the time

Yeah...this looks intentional to me.

Dr. Mordrid

[Jessterw]

Well at least the driver made it out alive. Sounds bad, but I hope that it was a bomb and not a car that caused the explosion, loss of human life and all.

[agallag]

According to CNN:

The truck was cut off by another vehicle and went off the road, rupturing the fuel tank and sparking the explosion, said Sgt. Ed Ensminger of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Another official said the fuel tank ruptured when the truck's trailer struck the post of an overhead sign.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/Midwest/10/29/fedex.explosion/index.html

Edit: The picture in that article is a little small, but it sure looks like the fuel tanks are still intact.

[agallag]

Here's the pic.

[Dr Mordrid]

Goes to show 'ya....initial reports were that the tank survived

Dr. Mordrid

[maharajah]

Let me guess, it was FOX "News" that reported the fuel tank was still intact

[trk2]

Still doesn't seem right. Diesel is not a fuel that burns easily under normal conditions.

[KvHagedorn]

Sounds like someone might have inadvertently reported the truth before someone else could censor them. Those fuel tanks look perfectly intact to me, and this does not look like the kind of explosion where fuel or fire was involved. Looks more like a chemical explosion to me.. perhaps a concussion device.

[Jessterw]

Most people don't realize that it takes alot to cause a vehicle's fuel tank to explode (as in most explosions in movies are almost entirely unlikely to ever happen). The fuel can catch on fire, but rarely does that actually cause an explosion of any worthwhile magnitude. So yeah, I'd have to agree that something else was going on that caused the explosion.

[ALBPM]

Hey!! You put your amonia in my iodine!!!!!

[RichL]

Originally posted by trk2
Still doesn't seem right. Diesel is not a fuel that burns easily under normal conditions.

I thought those big american rigs still used petrol engines?

[GT98]

Originally posted by RichL


I thought those big american rigs still used petrol engines?

Nope thats stupid! They are Desel engines. Whats interesting is that the APCs that the US Army use the Same engines that are found in Greyhound buses/Fire Engines and in Big Semis.