San Diego

The driver of a cement truck was killed Wednesday morning when his truck blew a tire, smashed through a bridge barrier and went down an embankment.

The driver, identified by the coroner’s office as Don Litz, 36, of Loma Portal, was headed north on Interstate 5 near Sea World Drive when the right front tire blew out.

Despite Litz’s efforts to regain control of the truck and maneuver it to the freeway’s shoulder, the truck skidded more than 200 feet before crashing through a barrier and tumbling about 20 feet down an embankment into a drainage ditch near Mission Bay. The truck’s mixer drum, filled with cement, broke off the vehicle’s chassis and crashed over the cab, authorities said.

Litz, an employee of Nelson & Sloan in Otay, died at the scene.