An 18-wheeler tanker truck carrying explosive materials overturned at 1:45 this afternoon on U.S. Highway 76 in Newberry County, prompting evacuations for a half mile area.
Newberry Sheriff Lee Foster told affiliate WKDK in Newberry that the area is potentially dangerous until it is cleaned up by a hazardous materials crew, which is on the scene now.
The sheriff says what they thought was farm fertilizer turned out to be explosive grade ammonium nitrate, blasting caps and other explosives used in quarry operations.
Foster says they have evacuated people but there are not many occupied houses in that area.
He says the cleanup this afternoon will take a while as they remove the explosives and right the truck.
- Carole Murray, WKDK in Newberry
