BRANDON, Fla. — A woman was killed in a crash on northbound Interstate 75 when natural gas tanks, which separated from a tractor-trailer in a separate collision seconds earlier, fell onto the SUV she was riding in, according to a Florida Highway Patrol crash report.
It happened just after 10 a.m. Friday on I-75 near U.S. 301 toward the Port of Tampa exit to the Selmon Expressway (Exit 256), FHP detailed in a crash report.
Troopers say a tractor-trailer carrying the tanks was heading north on I-75 when its driver, a 48-year-old St. Petersburg man, somehow crashed into the back of another tractor-trailer stopped on the outside shoulder at Exit 256.
The tanks fell from the trailer and onto the SUV driven by a 22-year-old Ruskin man. One of his passengers, a 49-year-old Ruskin woman, was killed, according to the report.
The gas tanks then came to a rest in the center of the interstate.
The back of the stopped tractor-trailer, which was loaded with cotton clothing products, caught fire until it was extinguished by firefighters.
Troopers say the St. Petersburg man suffered minor injuries. The driver of the stopped tractor-trailer, a 31-year-old man from Miami, also received minor injuries. The 22-year-old and two other passengers in the SUV, 10-year-old and 4-year-old boys, also were hurt.
Law enforcement kept the highway closed for hours for an investigation. Drivers who were stuck in the area were allowed to get off at Exit 256.