Truck parked overnight loses half of ANFO load

Cameron, Missouri-A hopper truck driver transporting 44,000 pounds of Dyno Nobel ammonium nitrate and fuel oil (ANFO) to a mine in Illinois pulled off the highway to rest late Sept. 24 and found when he awoke he’d lost about half the load to a leak. The discovery touched off an evacuation of mainly business areas in a half-mile radius that lasted into early evening. Cameron Police Sgt. Marty Gray told Green Markets the driver pulled off Highway 36 into an empty lot to park overnight and ruptured the bottom of his hopper when he drove through a pot hole filled with water. Gray estimated that 22,000 pounds of the load were lost, with the balance remaining in the hopper. Dyno Nobel’s Salt Lake City office had a slightly different story, reporting that the emulsion leaked from a broken line on a trailer operated by an independent carrier that was parked overnight at a truck stop in Cameron. “Unbeknown to the driver the line underneath the trailer had been damaged when he pulled into the truck stop and hit a deep pot hole. The driver discovered the spill in the morning and immediately notified all appropriate authorities. All precautionary measures were taken. There were no injuries, and all product has been cleaned up. The incident is now under investigation.” There was no word who handled the cleanup, how the spilled ANFO was disposed of, or if the ANFO still in the hopper was salvaged. Sgt. Gray said the evacuated area was 96 percent businesses, with a couple of residences. Traffic, including I-35, was routed through the city from 8:30 in the morning until approximately 6:30 at night. Schools were allowed to stay in session.