A van went up in flames following a five-vehicle accident early this afternoon (Nov. 13) on southbound I-55 south of McNutt Street at the sand cut overpass south of Hercuelaneum, but fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, said Capt. Don Lassing of the Festus Police Department.
The accident occurred about 12:35 p.m. and traffic was tied up in the area for a couple of hours after that, Lassing said.
In addition to the van, the accident involved a tractor-trailer, an SUV and two cars, Lassing said.
The accident is still under investigation this evening, Lassing said, so he didn't know exactly how it happened.
Lassing said the Missouri Department of Transportation was repairing southbound I-55 about 200 yards south of the accident and had a lane closed there, so traffic could have been slowing because of that, contributing to the accident.
“I believe traffic backed up, and there was a chain reaction,” he said.
However, Lassing didn’t know which vehicle struck another first.
At some point, though, the van “spun out and hit a guardrail,” he said.
Lassing said the driver was able to escape the van without any serious injuries.
One adult man involved in the accident had some “cuts and scrapes” and was transported to Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City for treatment, but there were no other reported injuries, Lassing said.
After the van went up in flames, some gun powder for a muzzle-loaded weapon ignited, but that wasn’t the cause of the fire, Lassing said.
He said southbound I-55 was shut down because of the fire.
“It was pretty intense,” he said. “There was black smoke everywhere.”