Salt brine tanker tips over, driver treated and released from hospital
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
Emergency crews responded to a tractor-trailer that fell onto its side along River Road in Ocqueoc Township Wednesday, sending the driver to Cheboygan Memorial Hospital for further treatment.
Ron Morell of Onaway, who was working for a private trucking company, had already laid some of the 10,000 gallons of salt brine he was hauling, when he backed up toward M-68 Highway, but got too close to the shoulder of the road, when the shoulder collapsed.
The trailer overturned, taking the tractor with it, according to a spokesman from the Presque Isle County Sheriff?s Department. Morell was treated and released at the hospital. The call into central dispatch was received at 2 p.m.
A small amount of the material spilled. A crew from I.D.I. of Kalkaska, the truck?s owner, worked for several hours unloading it into an empty trailer. Moran Iron Works assisted at the scene to lift it out of the ditch. There was significant damage to the cab and it may be deemed a total loss. The vehicle was towed from the scene.
The sheriff?s department didn?t clear the scene until 8:30 p.m. Also responding to the scene were the Case Township Fire Department, members of the county road commission, Michigan State Police, emergency services coordinator Norm Smith and Onaway Area Ambulance.