A recently released report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) provides new insights into the ammonia tanker-truck crash that happened in Teutopolis, Ill. almost exactly a year ago.
The crash occurred when a vehicle passed the tanker and forced it off the road, and according to an interview included in the NTSB report, that vehicle was a minivan driven by a 17-year-old Ohio girl.
“Oh, (expletive). Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Yep, totally my bad. Wow. Holy (expletive),” the girl said while watching the video from the ill-fated truck during an Oct. 4, 2023, Illinois State Police interview.
Dash cam footage from the tanker shows it had to pull to the shoulder of the highway to avoid a collision but lost traction, ran off the road and hit a utility trailer that punctured the anhydrous tank – causing more than half of its 7,500-gallon load to spill.
Five people died as a result, including three family members who were near the road when the incident occurred. About 500 people residents within a 1-mile radius of the crash site were evacuated after the accident as well.
NTSB said its latest findings are merely a factual account and do not include analysis or conclusions, which are expected later.
