A semi-tanker hauling liquid sugar overturned on Tuesday on Ind. 49, the Liberty Township Volunteer Fire Department said.

The crash occurred at 1:30 p.m. in the southbound lanes of Ind. 49, just north of the U.S. Highway 6 exit, Fire Chief Brian Duncan told the Chesterton Tribune today. It’s unclear what exactly happened, however, as the trucker—whose name was not available—didn’t recall the events leading to the crash.

After leaving the roadway to the west, the tanker rolled over into a small creek out of sight of the road, Duncan said. None of its load of liquid sugar—en route to the Breyers Ice Cream plant in Huntington, Ind.—was lost but, as a precaution, a haz-mat team with the Porter County Environmental Department was dispatched to the scene.

The trucker himself sustained a small cut to the face but refused treatment, Duncan said.

It took approximately five hours for the liquid sugar to be offloaded to another tanker. A contractor was hired for the operation, which involved cutting a hole in the tanker, inserting a hose, and pumping out the sugar. The LTVFD then provided a couple of hundred gallons of water to dilute the rest of the sugar still in the tanker, Duncan said.

The LTVFD cleared the scene at 6:30 p.m.

The crash, as it happens, was just the first call in what proved to be a busy day on Tuesday, Duncan added. Later in the day, the LTVFD provided assistance at a structure fire in Washington Township and then at one in Union Township.

The LTVFD also assisted the Portage Fire Department on Monday at the National Transmission blaze at 5475 U.S. 6.

“Tuesday was a crazy day in a crazy week,” Duncan said.

Posted 5/17/2012