TAMPA — A woman was killed Friday after two semitrailers crashed on Interstate 75, causing a natural gas tank from one of the trucks to go airborne and land on the car she was riding in, the Florida Highway Patrol reported.
The crash occurred just after 10 a.m. Friday near Exit 256, which is the exit to the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
A semitrailer was being driven north on the interstate when it drifted onto the outside shoulder and crashed into the trailer of another semitrailer that had stopped on the shoulder, according to the highway patrol.
The impact caused the natural gas tanks on the first truck to separate, become airborne and fall onto a Buick Enclave traveling north in the center lane, troopers said. A passenger in the Buick, a 49-year-old Ruskin woman, was killed. The 22-year-old man driving the Buick and two other passengers in the car, boys ages 10 and 4, had minor injuries, troopers said.
The trailer of the parked truck, which was loaded with cotton clothing products, caught fire in the crash. The 31-year-old Miami man behind the wheel of that semitrailer and the driver of the other semitrailer, a 48-year-old St. Petersburg man, both suffered minor injuries.
Troopers closed all northbound lanes of I-75 at Exit 256 and diverted all northbound traffic to U.S. 301 as they investigated. The lanes re-opened Friday afternoon, Spectrum Bay News 9 reported.
No other details, including the names of the people involved, were released by the highway patrol.