Reply #97: I recall the explosives truck that exploded,leaving massive crater in UT

[lostnfound]

Don't know why that popped into my head, but here's the DU thread. The crater left behind was huge -- one story says 20' x 35', the other says 30' x 70'. The photos are all gone now, most links in the thread are dead but I found this onewhich is the best article. Elsewhere they said it was "pentolite explosive", a mixture of TNT and PETN, a powerful explosive sometimes used in land mines and detonation cords, and that it "had been formed into cast boosters - seismic charges used for oil and gas exploration."

But I guess those are considered "low-tech" explosives? :shrug:



By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer 30 minutes ago

SALT LAKE CITY - A tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded Wednesday, injuring four people and leaving a huge crater in a Utah highway.

The truck driver, a passenger in the cab, a motorist and a man on a motorcycle were hospitalized after the truck "pretty much vaporized," Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

The explosion left a crater in two-lane U.S. 6 estimated to be between 20 feet and 35 feet deep, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said.

The rig, from R&R Trucking of Duenweg, Mo., had just left commercial explosives maker Ensign-Bickford Co. at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon when the accident happened. The truck was headed to Oklahoma, company officials said. They wouldn't say what type of explosives the truck was carrying.

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