CONYERS, Ga. — The driver behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer that rolled over and dumped thousands of gallons of gas on a Gwinnett County road said he owes his life to a good Samaritan.
Meanwhile, the cleanup will take days to complete.
On Monday, a Jeep drifted over the center line and crashed into a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gas, police said. The crash happened at Winder Highway north of Highway 316 in Dacula.
"Next thing I know, we collide head on. He bounced off me," the tanker driver, Rodney Hunter, told Channel 2's Jeff Dore.
The truck overturned. The tanker and tractor split apart, with pieces rupturing and thousands of gallons of gasoline spewing. Hunter said though he survived the crash, he saw death racing at him.
"I thought there was going be an explosion. I thought the whole time in my mind, I was actually just waiting for the explosion," he said.
He was unable to move his legs, and another driver, Chris Hensley, rescued him.
"Anybody could have stood back and said, 'Get out of the truck. It's going to blow. Gasoline is coming out,'" Hunter said. "But to actually run up to the vehicle as gasoline is shooting out of it and pull a total stranger out of it, you know, I want to thank you Chris, you saved my life. That was very brave of you."
On Tuesday, contractors worked to get rid of the 3,500 gallons of gasoline that spilled. Some flowed toward a nearby creek, but a supervisor with the Environmental Protection Agency said fish downstream are thriving.
Crews will dig up contaminated soil and replace damaged roadway over the next two days. The Georgia Department of Transportation said it may have to replace 200 to 300 tons of asphalt that was ruined.