JUST IN: Tanker Carrying “Potentially Explosive” Chemical Compound Overturns

A tanker carrying potentially explosive ammonium nitrate overturned in Hagerstown, Maryland Monday morning.

Authorities responded to the scene around 8:20 a.m. at southbound I-81, north of Halfway Boulevard, CBS News reports.

Businesses within 1,500 feet of the scene have been asked to evacuate.

Pictures from the scene showed the tanker overturned in a wooded area beside the interstate.

BREAKING: Tanker transporting potentially explosive ammonium nitrate overturns in Hagerstown, Maryland, forcing businesses within 1,500 feet to evacuate. pic.twitter.com/XhhjVOKEkL

— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) June 26, 2023

#BREAKING: The scene in Hagerstown where authorities say a tanker truck carrying ammonium nitrate overturned Monday morning prompting the evacuation of nearby businesses. WATCH LIVE: https://t.co/GHQQHCb5AK pic.twitter.com/3WyvEIaqxK

— FOX 5 DC (@fox5dc) June 26, 2023

CBS News reports:

Detours are forcing southbound I-81 traffic onto US Route 40 West. Northbound I-81 traffic was briefly made to exit onto Halfway Boulevard.

Police said emergency responders are heading to the scene and I-81 will remain closed for an extended time.

Helicopter footage over the scene appears to show the overturned tanker in a wooded area on the right side of the highway.

No injuries have been reported.

Police said the tanker is carrying ammonium nitrate which, according to the National Institute of Health, is a chemical compound used to make fertilizers and explosives, and as a nutrient in producing antibiotics and yeast.

Ammonium nitrate has caused numerous blasts over the decades, CBS News reports, like the devastating Beirut explosions in 2020, one at a Texas fertilizer plant in 2013 that killed 15 and was ruled deliberate, a North Korean railway blast that left 161 dead in 2004, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Ammonium nitrate is the same chemical compound that reportedly went missing from a train traveling from Wyoming to California earlier this year.

60,000 Pounds of Chemical Used in Explosives Goes Missing