3 hurt, truck overturns in I-95 crash

Groton - State police said there were no major injuries Wednesday afternoon in a three-vehicle crash that overturned a heating oil tanker truck on Interstate 95 northbound and spilled about 1,200 gallons of heating oil.

The Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection on Wednesday night were cleaning up the heating oil that had leaked from the overturned tanker off the right side of the highway, between exits 88 and 89 near the Flanders Road overpass.

Two passenger sedans were off the left side of the highway after the 3:15 p.m. crash, and state police said all three vehicles had to be towed from the scene.

Police identified the sedan drivers as Kathy L. Naylor, 42, of Marietta, Ga., and Ashley Richard, 26, of 183 Boston Post Road, East Lyme.

Police did not identify the driver of the Town & Country Discount Oil truck. The company is based in Voluntown.

All three drivers had minor injuries, police said, and all were transported to the hospital.

Dwayne Gardner, a DEEP spokesman, said the tanker, which has a capacity of 2,400 gallons, spilled an estimated 1,200 or 1,300 gallons of the home heating fuel it carried.

"The procedure is to offload the remaining oil to another truck, then to get the damaged truck uprighted and taken away, and then start the process of removing the soil that is contaminated," Gardner said of DEEP's role in the cleanup.

State police said the oil transfer is complete and, late Wednesday, excavation of the contaminated soil had begun. New soil would be deposited today, police said.

Almost 20 emergency responders, with lights flashing, originally responded to the scene. Poquonnock Bridge and Old Mystic Fire Departments, as well as Groton Ambulance personnel, Lawrence & Memorial Hospital paramedics and state police troopers responded to the crash. At least one lane of traffic was closed for more than five hours.

Rush-hour traffic along routes 1, 184 and 117 moved slowly as cars avoided I-95 and detoured onto city streets. Groton Town police directed traffic at heavily congested intersections.

Police did not announce charges against any of the drivers Wednesday.

s.goldstein@theday.com