CREWS COMPLETING CLEANUP OF DIESEL FUEL SPILL ON I-15

Crews from Arizona and Utah were completing cleanup of a diesel fuel spill caused when a tanker truck careened off I-15, killing the driver.

The accident forced the closure of I-15 for nearly seven hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning and sloshed fuel into a ravine emptying into the Virgin River.But authorities said none of the diesel fuel reached the river.

Melvin Lyle Stahlhut, 58, Parowan, was killed when the tanker truck he was driving struck a rock and plunged into the ravine, just south of the Utah-Arizona state line, said Arizona Highway Patrol trooper Dick Wells.

Traffic on southbound I-15 was blocked after the 8:37 p.m. accident until 10 p.m., and northbound lanes remained closed until 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The tanker, carrying about 7,400 gallons of fuel, broke open and spilled part of its load down the ravine, but hazardous materials teams from both states constructed a dike to stop the liquid from reaching the river.