A tanker hauling ammonia rolled near a traffic interchange in Greeley Monday afternoon during a two-vehicle collision that injured two people, including a child.
The incident happened at about 4:55 p.m. near the interchange of U.S. 34 and 85, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
The driver of a 1998 Honda coupe attempted to cross U.S. 34 heading north when the car was hit broadside by a semi-truck hauling ammonia, said Trooper Nate Reid, a Colorado State Patrol spokesman.
The driver of the Honda and her passenger, a 2-year-old child, were taken to North Colorado Medical Center with moderate injuries.
After the initial collision the truck rolled and skidded to a stop. The truck driver was not injured. The semi leaked diesel fuel. The tanker did not leak ammonia, Reid said.
Gina Silkworth, 31, was driving about a quarter-mile behind the truck when she realized it had rolled.
“It was so bizarre, how fast it happened, just a flash of metal ahead, a big disturbance,” Silkworth recalled.
A licensed practical nurse, studying at Morgan Community College to become a registered nurse, Silkworth ran to the truck as her friends and fellow students, Jenna Allen and Loretta Nelson, went to the trunk of their car to pull equipment and supplies.
Silkworth saw the trucker moving around in the overturned cab, but she didn’t know how she’d be able to help get him out.
Just then a man ran up and told Silkworth to get back.
“Whatever is in this truck could blow at any second,” Silkworth recalled the man warning her.
The three women stayed back and the trucker was able to crawl out of the cab, Silkworth said.
Emergency responders quickly arrived.
As the trio drove around the truck they spotted the car that had been in the collision.
“We didn’t know the chaos on the other side of the truck,” she said. “It was pretty intense.”
Silkworth smelled ammonia at the crash scene, she said.
“It was pretty over-powering.”
Emergency response crews had to stabilize the tanker before righting it to be hauled away.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822, knicholson@denverpost.com or
