Five Dead In Fiery Highway Crash

(CBS/AP)  A tanker truck carrying a flammable liquid plunged off a highway overpass and exploded into a fiery mass atop other vehicles along an interstate highway near Baltimore, killing five people, officials said.

"There's still a lot of work to be done in reconstructing the accident scene. Until that work is completed, we don't know the cause of the accident or the crash," state police Cpl. Greg Prioleau said in a news conference early Wednesday.

Gary McLhinney, police chief of the Maryland Transportation Authority, said the number of dead could rise in the crash that occurred shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday, creating a plume of black smoke that could be seen miles away at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

The tanker landed in the northbound lane of Interstate 95, just below the overpass carrying the southbound lane of Interstate 895, police said.

"As I was coming off the bridge, I just seen the two vehicles collide together, and one truck, he pushed him sideways, and all of a sudden, they just blew up — a big ball of fire," an eyewitness told CBS affiliate WJZ-TV.

Thomas "Tim" Hutchins, the acting state police superintendent, said five vehicles were involved — three trucks and two passenger vehicles. The fire burned much of the soft metal on the vehicles, but investigators hoped to get identification numbers from the remaining steel.

"It's almost like looking at a junkyard, with parts of vehicles piled on top of each other," William Mould, a Howard County fire department spokesman, said. "With the foam piled on top of that, it's going to take a bit of time."

State police Cpl. Rob Moroney said one person in a truck that was somehow involved in the accident jumped out and ran away. But he said there were no details available on the victims.

Environmental officials believed the tanker was carrying a flammable petroleum product, but didn't know what kind. Most of the product apparently burned away in the fire.

Officials were concerned about the structural integrity of the bridge. The tanker apparently took out a section of concrete from the overpass. McLhinney said engineers were testing the metal and other parts of its structure.

"The people in the cars never had a chance," said Dwane Roberts, a truck driver who saw the tanker crash to the road below.

The crash site was about six miles southwest of Baltimore.