Semi rollover closes highway due to highly flammable load

A section of Highway 39 near McTaggart was closed for several hours on Sunday and Monday, after a semi-trailer carrying a highly flammable substance rolled on Sunday afternoon.

Weyburn RCMP say the northwest-bound semi, carrying isopropanol, went off the road and flipped over around 2 p.m. about two kilometres southeast of McTaggart. The driver was taken to hospital, treated for minor injuries and released.

The isopropanol, which is rubbing alcohol, was leaking slightly from the tanker, and out of a fear of sparking a fire or explosion the traffic was detoured around the scene until around 11 p.m. Sunday night, and again on Monday while the product was pumped out and the trailer righted.

The truck was operated by Liquid Transport Corporation of Greenfield, Indiana, and the driver was identified as Jonah Jones, 66, of Chicago, Ill.

The RCMP also requested CP Rail not to run any trains by the area for a few hours on Sunday. When trains were allowed to run again, they were asked to go by very slowly to minimize any risk of a spark.

The highway closure was handled by personnel of the RCMP, Weyburn Police Service, Yellow Grass Police and the Department of Highways. The Weyburn Fire and Rescue Squad and ambulance were on hand to remove the driver, and foam down the truck to ensure there was no danger of fire.

Meanwhile, the RCMP are continuing to investigate the accident, and are looking for an unknown vehicle which may have caused the truck to go off the highway.
Police say they are looking for a brown car which they suspect forced the truck to swerve to avoid hitting it
If anyone has information about the accident or may have witnessed what happened, they are asked to call the Weyburn RCMP detachment or the toll-free Crime Stoppers line.

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