You are reading

Truck Carrying Hundreds of Propane Cylinders Overturns and Explodes in Rego Park, Driver Makes Miraculous Escape

The inferno from the truck (Citizen)

Dec. 22, 2020 By Michael Dorgan

A truck carrying hundreds of propane cylinders overturned and burst into flames on the Horace Harding Expressway in Rego Park Tuesday morning.

The tractor-trailer was traveling westbound near the Junction Blvd. exit just before midnight when it slid on black ice causing it to strike a Jersey Barrier and overturn on its side, according to the FDNY and NYPD.

The tanks smashed to the ground and exploded into a ball of fire. Video footage shows the flames raging high into the dark sky. Miraculously the driver, 36, walked away with minor injuries.

The truck was carrying around 300 propane cylinders, each weighing 20 pounds, the FDNY said.

The FDNY sent 25 units and over 100 firefighters to the scene and classified it as a 2-alarm fire. They got the blaze under control at around 1:30 a.m., FDNY officials said.

No other vehicles were involved in the initial collision although one cylinder hit a parked US mail truck causing it to go on fire, police said.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

One Comment

Click for Comments 

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Hall of Famer Lou Carnesecca, legendary St. John’s basketball coach, dies at 99

The St. John’s University community will gather to mourn legendary basketball coach Lou Carnesecca on the Hillcrest campus he loved with all of his heart Friday morning for his Funeral Mass at St. Thomas More Church, where he will be remembered not just for building a dynamic program, but for the way he did it. The beloved coach died peacefully surrounded by family and friends on Saturday, Nov. 30, at age 99 and just five weeks shy of his 100th birthday.

“Throughout his long life, Coach Carnesecca represented St. John’s with savvy, humility, smarts, tenacity, wit, integrity and grace,” SJU President Rev. Brian Shanley said. “He was the public face of our University, and he embodied the values of our Catholic and Vincentian mission. We thank God for his legacy.”

Flushing man gets 25 years to life in prison for ‘incredibly brutal’ murder, sex assault on 29-year-old woman: DA

Flushing resident Quiming Wan was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison in Queens Supreme Court on Tuesday morning for the November 2021 murder and sexual abuse of Jiaomei Zhou, a 29-year-old woman whose battered body he carried from his blood-soaked apartment to the lobby before being stopped by building residents.

Wan, 55, of Main Street, was convicted by a jury in October of murder in the second degree, aggravated sexual abuse in the first degree and other related crimes after a nearly two-week-long trial.