Intense Fertilizer Tanker Explosion In South Arkansas Creates Blast Wave, Kills Driver

One person was killed when a fertilizer truck exploded in southern Arkansas Wednesday morning, causing a boom that was heard for miles and prompting an evacuation of the surrounding area, authorities said. Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Melody Daniel confirmed the fatality and said at least two emergency responders were injured from the blast, which happened about 6:45 a.m. after the truck flipped on U.S. 278 near Arkansas 57. Daniel said the identity of the victim wasn’t immediately known. Crews closed U.S. 278, and were evacuating people within a roughly one-mile radius of the blast. “It looks like a bomb went off,” Camden Fire Chief Robert Medford said. “There’s a big hole in the ground on where the truck was at.”