HOUSTON — Monday marks 50 years since a catastrophic crash right here in Houston that changed how hazardous materials were transported through our city.
On May 11t 1976, a tanker truck carrying more than 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia was speeding, lost control, and crashed off of the 610 West Loop, landing on the Southwest Freeway below. The wreck sent toxic chemicals into the air.
According to the NTSB’s report one year later, the driver was the only person killed in the initial crash, but the exposure to the ammonia cloud later killed six more people who were near the crash site, and nearly 200 others were either treated at the scene or hospitalized due to the exposure…