CHP investigators deny exploded tanker truck caught fire before entering Atwater

The California Highway Patrol is refuting witness claims that a tanker truck that overturned and burst into flames in Atwater last month was on fire before it exited Highway 99.

“We can’t substantiate that it was on fire before it left the freeway,” said CHP Public Information Officer Eric Zuniga. “We didn’t receive a single 911 call reporting a truck on fire.”

Zuniga also said the CHP’s Multidisciplinary Accident Investigation Team that’s working on the case has found no indicators that the truck was on fire before it overturned.

“All the evidence indicates the driver was traveling too fast for the turn,” Zuniga said about the turn from the Applegate Road offramp onto Bell Lane. “That’s a 90-degree turn. It was his regular route. Why he took that turn too fast, we don’t know. We may never know why.”

The day of the incident, witnesses said the tanker was on fire before it exited the freeway onto the Applegate Road offramp.

Investigators are working to obtain surveillance footage from the Bell Lane McDonald’s in hopes that the incident was captured on video.

The Applegate Road exits from southbound Highway 99 will remain closed until at least June 24, the California Department of Transportation has said.

The ramp closures have severely affected businesses surrounding Bell Lane and Bell Drive which depend on freeway traffic.

CHP is waiting for the Merced County Coroner’s Office to complete an autopsy of the truck driver who was killed in the incident, Kamkyo Ramon Gnotsavath, 57, of Hughson.

Merced County’s Chief Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Mark Super, has completed the autopsy exam and is awaiting labratory results, which can take six to eight weeks, before finalizing the cause of death, said Sgt. Buck Ledford with the coroner’s office.

If the truck overturned and exploded on the freeway, things could have been much worse, Zuniga said: “It probably would have shut down the freeway for quite a bit.”

The investigation into the incident is ongoing and could take months to complete.

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 4:37 PM with the headline "CHP investigators deny exploded tanker truck caught fire before entering Atwater."