Two semi-trucks and one pickup truck crashed near Highway 97 and Highway 72 in La Salle County yesterday. The fatal truck crash killed one driver and left another suffering serious injuries. Surprisingly, the two people in the pickup were the ones who were able to walk away from the crash.
One of the truck drivers was killed and the other suffered burns on over 75 percent of his body in the fatal truck accident.
There was no indication as to where the trucks were coming from, heading to or what they were carrying. However, increased truck traffic and of course, truck accidents, in South Texas has been linked to the Eagle Ford shale boom currently going on in the area. La Salle County is at the heart of the Eagle Ford shale play development; oil, gas condensate, dry gas and wet gas have been found in the area.
In La Salle County alone, fatal truck accidents are up by more than 400 percent since 2008 according to the Texas Department of Transportation. According the U.S. Department of Transportation, as many as 500,000 truck accidents occur each year; about 10 percent of those accidents are fatal.
Source: WOAI, “Deadly 18-wheeler crash in LaSalle County,” June 19, 2013