Crews Start Cleanup After Fiery Detroit-Area Crash

Smoke filled the air Thursday above the collapsed bridge where a tanker carrying 13,000 gallons of fuel crashed and exploded a day earlier, and crews started clearing the rubble on the major Detroit-area freeway.

Three investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were to arrive later Thursday to look into the crash, with particular interest in the stability of the tanker. The agency investigates only about a dozen road crashes a year, spokesman Peter Knudson said.

Police said a car spun out of control along a winding section of Interstate 75 and caused the tanker to crash around 8 p.m. Wednesday. It shut down a stretch of road used 161,900 times a day, according to a 2007 state estimate.

The drivers of the car, the tanker and a third tractor-trailer in the crash escaped with only minor injuries, said Hazel Park Fire Chief Ray DeWalt.

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"A vehicle lost control and caused the tanker to lose control, causing it to flip," DeWalt said. He said that caused a Meijer Inc. tractor-trailer carrying produce to crash as well.

The truck drivers were treated at hospitals and released, while the car's driver didn't seek treatment, said state police Lt. Shannon Sims.

Sims identified the three as car driver Saied Haidarian-Shari, 27, of Clawson, tanker driver Michael St. John, 44, of Armada and food truck driver Jody Cicero, 38, of Monroe.

A video of the explosion taken near a gas station showed seven vehicles driving through flames and smoke in the two minutes after the crash. Half of the bridge collapsed minutes later.

It was unclear when commuters might be able to return to the stretch of I-75, said Michigan Department of Transportation spokesman Rob Morosi. He said damage from the fire and blast was worse than might readily be apparent, affecting the surface of I-75 in both directions.

On Thursday afternoon, crews began removing debris from the collapsed section of bridge over the northbound expressway. They also started demolition of the weakened but still standing span over the southbound lanes.