sbeveridge@observer-reporter.com
MONONGAHELA - A trucker from Elco was seriously injured Wednesday when his tractor-trailer went airborne into a ravine after it struck a train in Monongahela.
The truck driver, who was identified as Robert Magruda Jr., 38, of Elco, was flown by helicopter to Mercy Hospital, Pittsburgh, following the 3 p.m. accident. Calls to the hospital about his condition were not returned late Wednesday.
The truck landed against a tanker car containing more than 23,000 gallons of a molten corrosive chemical, none of which leaked, said Ron Sicchitano, deputy public safety director in Washington County.
The northbound Norfolk Southern engine was sounding its horn continuously when the truck pulled into its path along a railroad crossing at the entrance to the Metals Management scrap yard, police said. The truck was carrying an empty trailer.
A trucker who was traveling behind the accident told police he attempted to no avail to warn the other driver about the train on a citizens band radio.
"The truck was thrown in the air. You see where it landed," said Monongahela police Chief Brian Tempest. Tempest did not return a later telephone call seeking additional information.
The truck also damaged the corner of a brick garage before coming to rest in the ravine about 40 feet north of the crossing.
A Washington County hazardous waste team was called to clean up diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid that leaked from the truck owned by Big's Trucking of Belle Vernon.
The train was hauling six empty tankers and two containing corrosives, one of which was identified as alkyl phenols being hauled from a General Electric plant in Morgantown, W.Va.