The cause of the accident has not been officially determined by the Colorado State Patrol, but witnesses say it was sparked by the driver of a semi truck carrying 6,000 gallons of asphalt oil. They say he was driving too fast down one of the many sharp turns in Clear Creek Canyon.
The semi was heading westbound on U.S. 6 near Tunnel 1 just before 2 a.m. when it collided with an oncoming Jeep. A sedan trying to avoid the wreck rolled over into Clear Creek. A second sedan drove into the semi, which also rolled.
Paramedics rushed a total of five people to the hospital, with two in critical condition and two in serious condition. The semi driver was the fifth injured party, and is said to have minor injuries.
Sandra Paris, the mother of victim Chris Paris, said her son and his girlfriend Jessica, also a victim, are happy to be alive.
“It was just really scary,” a teary-eyed Sandra said. “My son and Jessica are fine, they just need to be looked at for some bumps, bruises and trauma. It was just a really scary experience for a mom to get a call like this at 2 in the morning.
U.S. 6 has been closed in both direction as police continue to investigate and clean up the scene, which contains a large amount of spilled asphalt oil. There has been no timetable given by CSP for when it might reopen.
Some of that oil spilled into Clear Creek, but according to CSP, the creek is frozen, so none of the oil was able to contaminate the body of water.
3 comments:
When semitrailers are outlawed only outlaws will drive semis. I know, ridiculous but I'm so tired of hearing about the rollovers into Clear Creek. I'm glad no one died (at least as of yet)but there is obviously something wrong with semis on highway 6. Do they have to clog up 6 as well as I-70? Ban em I say.
I've always been thankful that here in Connecticut it rarely gets cold enough for the rivers to freeze fully. We get to fish year-round. In this case, a freeze actually turned out to be quite valuable. I guess we'll take our blessings where we can.
@Cofisher: This is a clear case of irresponsible semi-use and I frequently witness semi drivers using Hwy 6 like a race track. For some reason we can’t keep vehicles out of Clear Creek but the leftovers subtract a great deal of quality from this water. I too get tired of seeing the shut downs, clean ups and even dead fish. My attempts at promoting awareness and routine trash pickups can’t compete with routine disaster.
@Steve, thank you for the comment and your continued patronage while I taking a rare winter hiatus. Soon I will get some fish to the hand and start posting once again. My fishaholic status is at risk.
Once again I have to apologize for the lack of posts. My usual winter tailwaters are super low right now and painful to look at in my opinion. Damn we need some heavy precip in the worst way. Rather than lament about my lack of fishing or other struggles it may be best not to say anything at all. Spring fishing plans are underway. The posting will kick back up here hopefully soon. If we don’t get some heavy moisture and move up the CFS in a few places...may have to brush up on my shuffleboard skills.
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