Truck driver dead, 2 injured in fiery Hwy. 99 crash

A truck crash closed the highway in both directions between Highway 17 and the Massey Tunnel.

A fiery crash shortly during rush hour traffic in Delta Wednesday morning left a truck driver dead, two people injured and shut down Highway 99 in both directions for hours.

The crashed vehicle, a tandem-axle commercial gravel truck, was wedged on the median between the north and southbound lanes. Witnesses posted videos of the vehicle burning on Twitter.

Some drivers said they saw the southbound truck wobble and lose control before lurching upward and jack-knifing over a median. They said it then struck a van heading in the opposite direction, causing an unbelievable explosion.

Delta police confirmed one person appearing to be the driver of a semi truck died in the crash. Police said they couldn't confirm the identity of the deceased pending next-of-kin notification.

Two vehicles in the northbound lanes were struck by the truck and trailer, police said. Both drivers were taken to hospital with non-life threatening injures.

Some Good Samaritans tried to pull the truck driver of from the wreckage but were unsuccessful after the flames consumed the vehicle’s cab.

“They had fire extinguishers and they were trying to extinguish the fire,” said Darlene Ward. “They did their best to get the guy out, but they had to give up.”

“With the diesel fuel leaking, one of the tires caught on fire and kind of went sky-high,” said Gary Edgar, one of the people who tried to save the driver. “An air tank exploded and we were trying to get him out of there and it was just time to back off.”

Delta police said an investigation into what caused the crash is ongoing.

Richmond and New Westminster firefighters responded to the scene, helping to cover the Delta fire halls, many of whose members were at a funeral for the Delta firefighter who was struck and killed earlier this month.

Traffic was being re-routed between the Massey Tunnel and Highway 17, according to DriveBC. North and southbound lanes were closed for hours between highways 17 and 17A.

Drive BC said Wednesday afternoon that northbound lanes had reopened, while southbound traffic would remain closed between Highway 17A and Highway 10 into the late afternoon or early evening

On their Twitter account, Delta police were advising drivers to seek alternate routes for their afternoon commutes, saying clean-up may continue to that time.