FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) — Hazmat crews are working to clean up over 9,000 gallons of spilled fuel at Port Everglades, Thursday night.
According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, at around 11:40 p.m., Thursday, a tanker truck rolled over, causing 6,000 gallons of gasoline and 3,000 gallons of diesel to spill out of the truck, some even seeping into the Intracoastal.
The driver of the truck, Jean Nicolas, suffered minor injuries and was transported to Broward General Medical. He was later dismissed and sent home. No one else was injured, according to officials.
7News spoke to Nicolas at his residence, Friday. He said he was going the speed limit and does not know what caused the tanker truck to flip. “I just blacked out for a few seconds,” he explained. “And then I woke up fast because I wanted to get out of the truck since there was some fuel inside of the truck and I didn’t want the trailer to explode with me inside of it. But my doorway was locked, so what I did was I opened the window from behind and I got out.”
The tanker truck was upside down until around noon, Friday, when the truck was finally lifted to the upright position. Now, the plan is to go through and empty all the gasoline out of the tanker and make sure there is no remaining fuel.
By late Friday afternoon, crews had already recovered half of the fuel. They expect to recover 90 percent or more of the fuel that went into the drainage lines, dirt and the Intracoastal.
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