BARNETT, Ga. - A truck driver and his family are lucky to be alive, authorities say, after the trucker apparently lost control of his tanker rig after attempting to round a curve, just past the Barnett exit of Interstate-20 in Warren County early Friday.
For more than five hours, traffic along that stretch of the highway had to be detoured in both eastbound lanes from the Barnett exit along U.S. 278 to Crawfordville and then onto Georgia Highway 22, according to Senior Trooper John Freeman of the Georgia State Patrol post in Thomson. The highway later was opened up to one lane about 7 a.m. while crews with the Georgia Department of Transportation worked to clean up a chemical compound, known as ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate is commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. It also has been used as an oxidizing agent in explosives, including improvised explosive devices, according to the website Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
The highway was reopened to normal traffic about noon, authorities said.
The driver, Derrick Garber, 25, and two passengers, Carolyn Garber, 33 and Bradyen Garber, 5, all of Greenville, TN., were all injured and taken by ambulances to the Medical College of Georgia Hospital in Augusta. They were treated and since have been released, according to Denise Parrish, a hospital spokeswoman.
The wreck occurred shortly before 2 a.m. and sent out a variety of emergency personnel to the scene including the Warren County Fire/Rescue Services and Warren County Emergency Medical Services.
Trooper Freeman said the truck driver told him he lost control of the tanker rig when he swerved to avoid a deer that ran out in front of him. As of Friday afternoon, no charges had been filed. The mishap remains under investigation.
