Semitrailer rolls, spills diesel fuel on U.S. 40

ROOSEVELT — A Vernal man is expected to recover from injuries he sustained Tuesday morning when his semitrailer hauling two tankers of diesel fuel overturned after veering off U.S. 40.

Utah Highway Patrol trooper Cameron Roden said investigators believe the 61-year-old man fell asleep at the wheel, causing his truck to go off the highway near the Wasatch-Duchesne county line.

The crash occurred around 2:40 a.m., but crews were still cleaning up a 100-gallon diesel fuel spill at midafternoon, Roden said.

Roden said the driver was taken to a Heber City hospital and then flown to a hospital on the Wasatch Front with what the trooper called "critical injuries." The man is expected to survive, Roden said, and may be issued a citation for the crash.

— Geoff Liesik