UINTAH — A truck driver hauling a tanker full of butane died Wednesday morning when his Flying J truck overturned.
The truck was westbound on Interstate 84 around 10:30 a.m. and took the off-ramp at Exit 87 to southbound U.S. 89, said Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Chris Simmons.
The vehicle overturned while still on the ramp.
The driver, 48-year-old Louis Joseph Cisneros, from Tooele, was ejected from the vehicle during the crash and died instantly, officials said.
Cisneros drove back and forth almost daily from Wyoming to a Flying J refinery in North Salt Lake, Simmons said.
The tank did not leak.
“These tanks are really resilient,” Simmons said. “If it was warm, it would cause the tank to swell,” but icy winds blowing in from Weber Canyon helped maintain the safety of the overturned flammable payload.
Simmons estimated it would take about six hours to remove the truck.
A separate tanker truck arrived on the scene to empty the overturned truck of enough butane to separate the cab and the tanker and safely tow them away.
Businesses near the crash site at the I-84 and U.S. 89 intersection remained open, and there were no evacuations.
U.S. 89 was closed at Layton and I-84 at Riverdale.
Ogden resident George Evenhuis saw the vehicle overturn. He had stepped out for a smoke break at his job at Smitty’s Tires and Services before the accident happened.
“I heard a humongous crash, and that’s when I turned and saw the big unit fall over,” Evenhuis said. “When I saw it, I flew into the main office and told them to call 911.”
The ramps connecting westbound I-84 to southbound U.S. 89 were closed until about 6 p.m. as troopers investigated the crash. As of Wednesday evening, the cause of the accident was still under investigation.
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