FATAL CAR ACCIDENT ON BELLE CHASSE BRIDGE IN LOUISIANA AS
A PICK-UP TRUCK TRAVELING AT A HIGH RATE OF SPEED LOST CONTROL ON THE RAINY
MORNING HIT A GUARDRAIL, SPUN AND CAUGHT FIRE
January 23, 2015
A fatal car accident Friday morning on the Belle Chasse Bridge
has left northbound Louisiana 23 closed, according to the Plaquemines Parish
Sheriff's Office.
The accident, which left one person dead and another
seriously injured, occurred about 8:10 a.m. Friday, according to State
Police spokeswoman Melissa Matey. She said the injured person
was transported to the Interim LSU Hospital's trauma center in
New Orleans.
The bridge remained closed at 10:30 a.m. Friday, with Matey
saying it would reopen "once we are finished up with the
investigation."
A pick-up truck traveling at a high rate of speed lost
control on the rainy morning as it went over the metal grating at the
top of the drawbridge, Matey said. The truck then hit the guardrail, spun and
caught on fire, she said.
A second vehicle couldn't stop in time and hit the
truck. No one in that second vehicle received serious injuries from
the crash, Matey said, but the driver was injured.
With Louisiana 23 closed, traffic leaving the
parish should take Woodland Highway (Louisiana 406) through Algiers,
according to the Sheriff's Office.