WATCH: Fuel truck explodes on Brownsville highway, killing driver
Video from witnesses traveling along a South Texas highway captured massive flames and smoke from a tanker truck that crashed and exploded Monday evening, April 17. The video circulating on social media shows a wall of flames blocking off a portion of State Highway 550 near the Rancho Viejo exit as people watch from the side of the road.
Firefighters with the Brownsville Fire Department and Los Fresnos Volunteer Fire Department fought the flames into the night. BFD said on Facebook that the driver of the truck did not survive the crash.
On Tuesday, April 18, the Texas Department of Public Safety identified the driver as Francisco Guadalupe Salinas Casas, 47, who was a resident of Matamoros, Mexico, reports Rio Grande Valley station KVEO. DPS said Salinas Casas was transporting what troopers initially called a “hazardous flammable material” on Highway 550 at a high speed before he lost control of the vehicle.
DPS did not identify the company Salinas Casas drove for but told MyRGV that the truck was carrying some type of fuel.
The tanker struck a concrete barrier and turned on its side before exploding. KVEO reports that the westbound lanes of Highway 550 remain closed as law enforcement investigates and works to reconstruct the crash.
DPS is asking people who witnessed the crash to call the Weslaco office at 956-565-7600 to provide more information.
