Law officers said 19-year-old Crystal Thomas of Oxford turned in front of a gasoline tanker truck, causing the tanker to overturn. Thomas' car was crushed in the wreck, and she died. The tanker driver was unhurt.
The tanker, an Eagle Transport truck headed to South Boston, Va., was carrying 3,000 gallons of gasoline. A rupture caused by the wreck led gas to flow into a nearby creek that feeds the Eno River.
Environmental officials were called in to monitor the spill. Foam was applied to keep the vapors down.
Meanwhile, the cement truck taking the detour around the first accident had trouble with a turn and landed on its side, causing further delays -- and leading the highway patrol to set up a detour of a detour.
EPA believes it has contained the spill into the creek. A private environmental clean up company is offloading some of the spill, taking loads away.
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