VENTURA : Excess Speed Blamed in Crash of Tanker

Excessive speed on a Ventura Freeway connector caused a fiery weekend explosion that killed the driver of a gasoline tanker truck and dumped thousands of gallons of toxins into the dry Ventura River bottom, authorities said Sunday.

Environmental experts will take soil samples today to determine how much gasoline soaked into the riverbed and to begin cleanup efforts.

About half of the 8,700 gallons of gasoline in the tanker burned during the explosion and ensuing fire, Ventura Fire Department officials said. The remainder soaked into the sand of the dry riverbed.

Results from an autopsy conducted Sunday show that the driver, Carlos Humberto Alonzo Jr. of Oxnard, died of asphyxiation from breathing the burning materials, coroner’s officials said.

Alonzo, an experienced driver, lost control of the truck as he made the transition from southbound California 33 to the northbound Ventura Freeway on Saturday, causing his truck to jackknife and explode, with the tanker falling into the riverbed below.

Atlas Bulk Carriers, the company that owned the tanker, has taken responsibility for the cleanup and has already begun erecting a fence around the site, said John Castro, a warden with the California Department of Fish and Game. Atlas has contracted with a firm that specializes in hazardous-material cleanups.

State and county environmental agencies will oversee the process, Castro said.

The gasoline poses no immediate environmental threat as long as the spill is cleaned up before it rains and causes the contaminants to spread, said Doug Beach, a Ventura County Health Department manager.

“Certainly the gasoline has apparently soaked into the river bottom,” he said. “We don’t know how much. If left there, it could pose a problem in the future.”