2 Truckers Killed in Fiery Freeway Crash

Two truck drivers burned to death on the Pomona Freeway near South El Monte on Tuesday when a 30-foot-long big rig slammed into the rear of a stalled gravel truck and burst into flames, California Highway Patrol officers said.

Firefighters doused the blaze in about 20 minutes, but traffic remained snarled in both directions for hours after the 10:15 a.m. crash, with cars stuck bumper-to-bumper in the eastbound lanes up to four miles away.

Because their bodies were badly burned, neither truck driver had been identified, officials said. No other injuries were reported.

The driver of the stalled truck, which was hauling two trailers of sand and gravel, had come to a stop in the third lane of the six-lane freeway, just west of Interstate 605, CHP spokesman Lou Gutierrez said.

The truck was apparently having engine problems and the driver was unable to make his way over to the shoulder, Gutierrez said.

After his truck stalled, the driver got out of the cab and tried to make a dash for the side of the road, but the cars whizzing by on both sides prevented him from crossing, a witness said.

The driver then went to the back of the truck and began to set up several triangular reflectors to alert other motorists to the danger.

“He tried to do the right thing, the safe thing,” Gutierrez said. “But it was just a bad situation.”

Officials do not think the second driver, who was hauling an empty trailer, had time to react. There were some skid marks but no other indication that he might have been able to avoid hitting the stalled truck, Gutierrez said.

“I saw the ball of black smoke and flames in my rear-view mirror,” said Clyde Taylor, 62, a retired firefighter from Whittier. “Everything was fully engulfed. The driver probably never even knew what he hit.”

The driver of the first truck, however, apparently saw him coming. He was seen diving for cover under one of his trailers.

“He jumped under the trailer to avoid being struck,” Gutierrez said. “But he just ended up burning down there.”

Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene. Officials are trying to trace their identities through their license plates, at least one of which is from out of state.

The intense heat almost completely melted the fiberglass cab on the second truck and gave off a cloud of thick, black smoke that immediately stopped traffic in both directions.

The CHP reopened the westbound lanes after about 15 minutes, but the eastbound side remained shut for more than 3 1/2 hours, until officers were finally able to get one lane cleared near the Peck Road exit.

By that time, traffic was lined up all the way back to the Garfield Avenue exit in Monterey Park. The remaining lanes were opened about 5:15 p.m., with traffic stuck as far back as the East Los Angeles interchange.

Staff writer Hector Tobar contributed to this report.