Gas-Hauling Truck Flips and Bursts into Flames.

A tanker truck hauling gasoline flipped over on the northbound curved ramp of the Van Wyck Expressway (North Conduit Avenue) in Queens Monday shortly after noon, bursting into flames. The unidentified driver was incinerated. No one else was injured.

Traffic was tied up for hours as firefighters sprayed the gasoline hauler with foam, and then worked to clear the roadway, which feeds into J.F.K. International Airport. The two-alarm fire blanketed the area with billowing black smoke.

Almost 300 firefighters responded to the scene. The fire – caused by the ignition of about half of the 9,000 gallons of gasoline being hauled – took more than two hours to extinguish and tied up traffic for more than six hours. Emergency personnel say that windy conditions at the Expressway helped by cooling them off.

Firefighters could not approach the truck’s cabin to extract the driver’s body even several hours after the accident, because it was too hot.

The ramp is being inspected by the State for structural damage. There is no word on when it will reopen. The cause of this accident is also being investigated.

Drivers are warned to expect heavy traffic if they're headed to J.F.K. Airport.

Air traffic at the airport was not affected.

Commentary:  Sounds like the driver took the curved ramp too fast. A lousy way to die, though; burned alive.

From:  New York attorney Gary E. Rosenberg (personal injury and accident attorney and lawyer; serving Brooklyn Queens Bronx)