QEW between Ontario St. and Victoria Ave. reopened: OPP

The QEW between Ontario Street in Beamsville, Ont. and Victoria Avenue in Vineland, Ont. has now reopened after a collision caused a tractor trailer to block the highway lane and spill thousands of litres of hazardous fuel on-site.

The collision happened Friday morning, leaving the Niagara-bound QEW to be closed for most of the day. It re-opened just after 4 p.m.

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Crews are continuing to work to facilitate the clean-up of thousands of litres of hazardous cargo that had spilled from the tractor-trailer when it collided with a passenger vehicle.

A fuel tank tractor-trailer was involved in a three vehicle collision that sent hazardous materials into the QEW ditch. (Simon Sheehan/CP24)According to police, the passenger vehicle was cut-off by an allegedly aggressive driver, causing it to collide with the fuel tank truck.

The driver of the tractor-trailer was extracted from his vehicle by first responder and was taken to hospital. The extent of his injuries was not immediately clear, but he is expected to survive, the OPP said.

The driver of the passenger van managed to get out of his vehicle on his own. He was “very shaken up” but not seriously injured, Sgt. Kerry Schmidt said.

Police are still looking to identify the driver of the third vehicle involved -- a Mercedes-Benz sedan -- who fled the scene.

Crews had been working to clean up the messy spill of dangerous materials this morning since 7 a.m. by drilling holes into the fuel container ad removing the rest of its contents with a vacuum.

“Because the hazards of potential spark and static electricity, we can’t have traffic within 100 metres and unfortunately it’s right next to the highway,” Schmidt said.

Crews were originally going to complete that work Friday evening and keep the highway closed, but decided to move it to the weekend so motorists can get home before the incoming snowfall.

The truck was removed, and all lanes of the QEW reopened, just before 1 p.m., Saturday, according to updates tweeted by the OPP.

Clean up efforts continue on the QEW after a three vehicle collision caused hazardous materials to spill into highway's ditch. (Simon Sheehan / CP24)

-With files from CTV News Toronto's Phil Tsekouras and Joshua Freeman