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Tractor-Trailer Carrying Navy Missiles Overturns

A tractor-trailer carrying unarmed Navy missiles ran off Interstate 70 and overturned Friday, forcing a one-mile area to be evacuated as a precaution.

The eight missiles did not spill from the truck, which careened down an embankment and ended up on its side in a ditch alongside eastbound I-70.

The truck was going through a construction zone about 8:45 a.m. when the driver hit the side wall of a bridge, causing his load to shift and the truck to flip over, said Sgt. T.O. Rouse of the state police.

Neither the driver nor his passenger were injured. State police identified the driver as Danny L. Harkey, 49, of Joplin, Mo. His passenger was Daniel C. King, 39, of Flower Mound, Texas.

Alcohol and drugs were not believed to have been factors in the accident, Rouse said.

The driver was cited by Maryland authorities for negligence, said John Randt, spokesman for the Military Traffic Management Command.

Gov. Parris Glendening, who flew to the scene, stressed the accident was not caused by a terrorist attack.

"There is no immediate danger to anyone around here," Glendening said. "It's just a cleanup at this stage."

However, the governor said he was concerned that neither the shipping contractor nor the military notified Maryland authorities that they were transporting missiles across the state.

"As soon as the materiel is moved I'm going to ask in the strongest terms why we weren't notified," Glendening said.

The Department of Defense is required to inform state officials when it transports materiel. Maryland emergency officials are trying to determine if the shipping contractor, Tri-State Motor Transit of Joplin, Mo., was required to notify the state.

The truck was carrying Navy missiles, said Jim Hill, an Army spokesman in Washington.

Alan Williams, a member of a Maryland Department of the Environment hazardous response team, said the missiles are each about 12 feet long. Each missile contains rocket fuel and is stored in an individual container. They were strapped onto the trailer and covered with a tarpaulin, Williams said.

Randt said other details of the shipment, which was from St. Louis, Mo., to New Jersey, were classified.

Don Lumpkins of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency said none of the rocket fuel on the missiles or diesel fuel on the truck leaked.

Randt said a special military team that handles explosives was at the scene, and another was on the way Friday afternoon.

Police shut down traffic in both directions on I-70. They evacuated a one-mile area surrounding the crash, forcing the relocation of 41 people from a housing complex. Authorities also imposed a no-fly zone that was three miles in diameter and 3,000 feet high.

Tri-State Motor Transit said it also owns a tractor-trailer that overturned Thursday night near St. Albans, W.Va., while carrying 42,000 pounds of military explosive powder.

The driver, who was not injured, lost control of the truck during a coughing fit after a sip of coffee, West Virginia state police Capt. A.M. Sovastion said. His wife, who also was in the vehicle, was treated for minor injuries.

A Tri-State spokesman did not immediately return a call for additional comment.

According to Fleet Owner, a trucking industry trade publication, Tri-State's parent company has more than 25 percent of the U.S. market for transporting military munitions. The parent company, Trism Secured Transportation, is also based in Joplin, Mo.

In Nov. 2000, Tri-State drivers hauling a nuclear-waste shipment missed a turn on the way to a U.S. Department of Energy nuclear dump near Carlsbad, N.M., and went 27 miles in the wrong direction. The company was suspended for two months from such shipments.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and 11 News for the latest breaking news updates.


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