Identities released of 2 killed in fiery I-40 crash involving tractor-trailer hauling explosives

Smoke from a tractor-trailer wreck rises near traffic Wednesday on U.S. 64 outside Mulberry in Franklin County. The driver of the tractor-trailer died after the vehicle, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, caught fire on Interstate 40.
Smoke from a tractor-trailer wreck rises near traffic Wednesday on U.S. 64 outside Mulberry in Franklin County. The driver of the tractor-trailer died after the vehicle, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, caught fire on Interstate 40.

The identities of two people who died when a tractor-trailer hauling explosives on Interstate 40 caught fire late last month have been released.

In an updated preliminary crash report, the Arkansas State Police said Frances A. Harris and Larry D. Harris, both 65 and from Monett, Mo., were trapped in the cab when the truck caught fire Feb. 22.The two were traveling west in the tractor-trailer around 2:15 p.m. that day through Franklin County when a tire on the front passenger’s side blew out and caused Frances Harris to lose control of the truck.

[FATAL WRECKS: Complete coverage of deadly crashes in Arkansas]

A short time later, the rig plunged off the interstate near Mulberry, traveled down an embankment and came to a rest on Lone Elm Road, where its diesel tank became engulfed in flames, state police said.

The truck was carrying ammunition and smoke grenades from the U.S. Army’s Pine Bluff Arsenal to the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, Okla., the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette previously reported.

Bill Sadler, a state police spokesman, would not confirm Monday whether the two victims were related.

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