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Driver Cited In Rollover Tanker Crash

Highway Shut Down For Hours After July Crash

POSTED: 2:44 pm EDT August 14, 2009
UPDATED: 3:15 pm EDT August 14, 2009

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The driver who police said triggered an Interstate 95 crash that injured 10 people and caused a tanker truck to roll over and spill several thousand gallons of gasoline into the Merrimack River in July has been cited, state police said Friday.

Uncut Video of July Crash | Images

Executive Office of Transportation
Sulma Aguilar, 32, of Everett, faces charges of operating to endanger and marked lanes violation. The investigation is ongoing and additional charges may follow, state police said.

State police said at about 9:15 a.m. on July 6 near the Route 113 exit on I-95, a 2001 Ford Expedition in the left lane being driven by Aguilar collided with a 2005 Freightliner tanker in the next lane being driven by Donald Branham, 52, of New Hampshire. The tanker, owned by Aranco Oil, of Concord, N.H., was loaded with 10,000 gallons of gasoline.

The collision caused the tanker to brake and slide onto its side, blocking all lanes of traffic and causing two other vehicles to become involved in the crash: a 2007 Honda Odyssey being driven by Molly Morin, 44, of Hamilton, and a Toyota Corolla being driven by Marianne Curcio, 29, of Newburyport.

There were seven people in the Expedition, two in the Odyssey and one in the Corolla. All were taken to area hospitals. Branham, the driver of the tanker, was not injured.

An Everett man and a child from Chelsea, both of whom were in the Expedition, suffered serious injuries and were taken by ambulance to Anna Jacques Hospital in Newburyport, and from there, by medical helicopter, to Massachusetts General Hospital.

Aguilar, the Expedition’s driver, and her passenger, another child from Chelsea, as well as Curcio, the Corolla’s driver, were taken to Anna Jaques Hospital. Morin, the driver of the Odyssey, and a child in her car, along with another child who was in the Expedition, were all taken to Portsmouth Hospital in New Hampshire.

Two other passengers in the Expedition, a man and woman, were taken to Exeter Hospital and Merrimac Valley Hospital, respectively.

Several thousand gallons of fuel spilled into the Merrimack River and was being tended to by the Coast Guard, Salisbury Fire Department and Clean Harbors.

I-95 was shutdown in both directions, northbound at Scotland Road and southbound at I- 495, for several hours. Southbound lanes were shut down for approximately six hours with back ups to the New Hampshire rest areas. Two lanes opened northbound after approximately seven hours with back ups to Newbury.

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