Manage Delivery
A Minnesota semi driver hauling a load of soy milk died Wednesday when his truck overturned near a toll booth on the Kansas Turnpike, at the Kellogg exit.
The man, 52, of St. Cloud, was driving “too fast to negotiate the curve” on the southbound exit ramp, when he slid into the median, Kansas Highway Patrol Capt. Joe Bott said at the scene. The semi overturned and pinned the man at about 3:30 p.m.
Wichita fire crews lifted the side of the truck to free the driver, who suffered head trauma, Bott said. The man, who has not been identified, died at the scene.
He was wearing a seat belt, according to an accident report.
The Turnpike’s northbound and southbound entry ramps were closed for a few hours immediately following the crash, Bott said.
Wednesday afternoon, Hazmat crews cleared the semi trailer and road of thousands of cartons of vanilla soy milk before two tow trucks could right the vehicle. A sweet scent mingled with the smell of diesel fuel as workers scooped up the boxes with front-end loaders and dumped them in a pile in the west ditch.
By 6:30 p.m., as authorities reopened the ramps to traffic, another loader operator shoveled the cartons into two large trash containers hauled on-site by a pair of trucks.
