The access road to the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area was closed for more than 30 hours.
The trailer overturned at Kilometer 112 of the highway shortly before reaching El Molino, was carrying 300 thousand liters of ethanol.
Héctor Ruiz Mejía (Jocotepec).– On Sunday, February 13, a tanker carrying ethanol overturned on the Guadalajara-Morelia highway, in the narrow stretch of the town of El Molino, causing the total closure of the road for almost two days. Specialists were brought in to clean up the highly flammable chemical, also known as ethyl alcohol, and to transfer the liquid to another vehicle.
Although the accident did not result in any loss of life, only material damage, the incident caused kilometer-long lines of traffic and detours by alternate routes such as the Huejotitán breach, the road to San Marcos Evangelista and the Chapala-Jocotepec highway. Motorists returning to Guadalajara from places such as Mazamitla, San Luis Soyatlán and other places on the south shore of Lake Chapala, had to spend more than three hours to get around Chapala.
The town of Ajijic, where traffic congestion is common on weekends, was one of the hardest hit, as thousands of motorists were diverted along Ocampo Street.
Sergio Herrera Robledo, director of the Civil Protection and Fire Department of Jocotepec, said that the truck held about 300,000 liters of ethanol when it overturned at kilometer 112 on the stretch of road near El Molino. Traffic was stopped in both directions at approximately 2 pm when the spilled liquid was identified as flammable .
A total of 300 liters of ethanol were spilled, before the leak was plugged and the transfer of the 299,700 liters to another truck of ethanol began. The transfer was completed at 11:30 pm on February 14 and cranes moved the overturned truck to open the road.
Herrera Robledo stated that it is not known what could have caused the rollover of the «Luxemborg Mexico» company’ truck since the driver fled the scene, and the investigation is ongoing.
This was the 84th accident in the past 13 months in this stretch of highway known as La Engorda, which has claimed the lives of 19 people, among them a baby and two adults on January 16.
Translated by Patrick O’Heffernan
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