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Author
National Transportation Safety Board
Title
Highway Accident Report: Automobile-Truck Collision Followed by Fire and Explosion of Dynamite Cargo on U.S. Highway 78, Near Waco, Georgia on June 4, 1971.
Coporate
National Transportation Safety Board, Washington, DC
Report
NTSB-HAR-72-5
September 21, 1972
37 p.
Keywords
highways | accident investigations | motor vehicle accidents | death | explosions | diesel fuels | fuel tanks | explosives | education
Identifiers
tractor-semitrailer; head-on collision; emergency crew instructions; crowd control; public response
Abstract
An automobile crossed over the centerline of a two-lane highway and collided with a tractor-semitrailer transporting a 25,414-pound cargo of explosives. The automobile driver was dilled in the collision, and fire broke out immediately. The cargo exploded. Two firemen, a wrecker driver, and two bystanders died as a result of the explosion. Thirty-three people were injured, and property damage was estimated in excess of one million dollars. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was that the automobile crossed over into the opposing lane of traffic and collided with the oncoming tractor-semitrailer.