4 Die in Freeway Collision With Tanker

Four people were killed when a Chevrolet Blazer slammed into a jackknifed gasoline tanker on the San Bernardino Freeway in Claremont late Wednesday, causing a fiery explosion that left authorities with few leads Thursday as to the victims’ identities.

A 36-year-old Glendora woman, whose name was not released, was believed to be at the wheel of the Blazer when it hit the twin tanker, authorities said. The three other victims also were riding in the vehicle, police said.

It will be several days before a comparison of dental records can be made to confirm the identities of the four people who were trapped in the flaming vehicle, Los Angeles County coroner’s spokesman Bob Dambacher said.

The tanker driver, Linzell Washington, 52, of La Puente, was uninjured in the crash, which occurred at 11:25 p.m. Wednesday. The inferno closed the freeway in both directions for several hours.

Washington told CHP officers that he was driving westbound at about 55 m.p.h. when the tanker’s brakes locked and spun the rig out of control, stopping about 200 feet east of Indian Hill Boulevard, CHP spokesman Dennis Paulson said.

The spin-out left the tanker jackknifed, straddling three lanes of the freeway, with the cab’s headlights pointed northeast. Paulson theorized that the driver of the oncoming Blazer “could have been distracted by the headlights” of the tanker.

Washington had left his cab to check on the damage when the Blazer struck the rear tank of the rig.

The spectacular fire that followed left authorities with few leads in trying to determine the victims’ identities. The identification of the 36-year-old Glendora woman could only be described as “tentative.”

Firefighters needed an hour to extinguish the blaze. Officials estimated the tanker had been carrying 20,000 gallons of gasoline.

Both directions of the freeway were closed between Indian Hill Boulevard in Claremont and Central Avenue in Montclair until 4:30 a.m., when eastbound lanes were opened. The westbound lanes were opened at 6:45 a.m.

A CHP spokeswoman said it is believed that the other three victims were two teen-age boys and a child about 10 years of age. The younger child’s sex was unknown, the spokesman said.

Dambacher, however, indicated that the victims included the Glendora woman, an adult male and a teen-age boy and girl.