Hazardous Leak In Mayes Co. Closes Highway For 6 Hours

NewsOn6.com

UNDATED -- An injury collision involving a tanker hauling hazardous chemicals closed down U.S. 69 southbound just south of State Highway 69A in Mayes County for six and a half hours Thursday. 

The scene was about a half-mile south of the Pryor city limits.

The Highway Patrol closed the road at about 3 p.m. Thursday while emergency crews cleaned up the accident.  Troopers reopened it at about 9:30 p.m.

Troopers say a fender bender caused the semi's cargo tank, which was filled with butyl ether, to develop a small leak.

"A Dodge pickup rear ended the tanker truck, causing a hazmat leak and injuring the pickup truck
driver," according to Lt. George Brown with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The driver of the pickup truck, 30-year-old Clint Jackson Fuqua, was taken to a Tulsa hospital.  

The driver of the semi was not injured.