Diesel truck rollover on Highway 427 near Pearson causing significant spill and road closure

A truck containing tens of thousands of litres of diesel rolled over on Highway 427 near Toronto Pearson Airport Tuesday afternoon, causing a significant spill and road closure that lasted for hours.

Ontario Provincial Police said around 12:45 p.m. that all northbound lanes on Highway 427 at Highway 401 were closed due to the collision.

“It is on its side, it is actively leaking, the driver is out of the truck without serious injuries, but at this point we are not able to contain the leak of the diesel,” OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt told CP24.

Schmidt said the fire department was working to absorb the diesel with sponges to halt the flow of the liquid, but the spill was rushing towards the elevation at the shoulder of the roadway facing Highway 401 westbound.

“They cannot stop it without the truck being uprighted and they cannot stop it in the way the vehicle has come to rest, so certainly it's fluid and ongoing, and we're just trying to understand exactly what the next steps are going to be.” 

Once the truck is back on its wheels, Schmidt said, the next task will be locating the hole and patching, plugging or offloading it.

“We may have to do some pumping from one truck to another but again, that takes time and obviously that's a huge concern for us.” 

Late Tuesday night, OPP said in a tweet that the 52-year-old driver of the truck has been charged with careless driving.

Police said around 9:20 p.m. that they were in the process of removing the vehicle and hoped to have the ramp and lanes reopened soon.