This morning on Route 27 in Franklin County, Maine, a truck driver was killed in an accident involving a fuel truck and an empty tractor-trailer.
Near the Canadian border just before 9:30 a.m. Franklin County sheriff’s deputies confirmed the death of the truck driver upon arriving on the scene of the accident.
According to Sheriff Scott Nichols, the 2 trucks collided as they attempted to pass each other approximately 10 miles south of the international border at Coburn Gore. The roads were freshly coated with snow. As the trucks approached each other on a curve the empty tractor-trailer lost traction and jackknifed. Then the tractor-trailer slid into the northbound lane that the fuel truck was traveling in – the trucks then collided.
The 911 call reporting the accident was first made via radio by a truck driver that witnessed the accident.
The fuel truck driver, Gregory Hutchinson, 51, of Carthage, was killed instantly. Hutchinson was driving an International fuel truck belonging to Dead River Company and was traveling north, according to Press Herald.
The other driver, Jeffrey Lang, 70, of Rumford, was driving a 2010 Peterbilt tractor-trailer truck owned by Nicols Bros Trucking of Mexico. The condition of Lang is not known at this time.
The fuel truck was loaded with 2,000 gallons of oil and 800 gallons of kerosene. Thankfully, as a result of the accident the fuel did not catch on fire; however, there was a spill.
Representatives from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection were on site to clean the spill and restore the road to its working order.
This accident is still under investigation. Maine State Police commercial vehicle enforcement is responding to reconstruct the accident, according to Central Maine.