MANCHESTER – After a car struck a deer in the early hours of the morning, a tanker truck then collided with the car, causing the truck to overturn and explode, police said.
According to police, Marissa Patterson, 18, of Forked River, was driving east on Route 37 at around 3 a.m. when a deer ran out in front of her car. As a result of hitting the deer, the car spun out and became disabled in the roadway, unable to be driven.
Patterson told police that she left her car and stood in a safe location while she called 911.
During that time, a truck pulling a tanker trailer filled with 8,700 gallons of gasoline drove right into Patterson’s car causing the truck to swerve and hit the concrete center barrier.
The truck then separated from its trailer, went over the concrete barrier and came to a stop on the westbound shoulder of 37. The trailer then overturned causing the gasoline to spill and explode.
The explosion set fire to both lanes of the roadway, compromising its integrity and damaging surrounding businesses and the adjacent wooded area, police said.
Although there were no reported injuries, police said the driver of the truck, Svilen Ivanov, 46, of Voorhees, was brought to Community Medical Center for precautionary reasons.
Route 37 was completely closed in both directions during the investigation, and will remained closed during decontamination and cleanup.
Assisting at the scene were members of the Manchester Volunteer Fire Department, Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Department, Whiting Volunteer Fire Department, Manchester EMS, Manchester Emergency Management, Berkeley Hazmat Unit, Lakehurst and Toms River Police Departments, Ocean County Sheriff’s Department, Ocean County Department of Health, New Jersey State Police, NJ Department of Transportation, NJ Department of Environmental Protection, and Jersey Central Power & Light.
At this time, the investigation into the crash is still ongoing, and it is being investigated by Patrolman Jesse Hoydis, Patrolman Michael O’Hara, and Sgt. Paul Bachovchin of the department’s Traffic Safety Unit.
Denise Maynard, a Lakehurst resident and frequent contributor to Jersey Shore Online, was woken up out of a sound sleep from what she thought may have been training from the Joint Base or a gas line explosion. She took to Facebook and went out to snap photos.
