By Journal Staff

    All lanes of Interstate 15 near the Malad summit were closed for more than 10 hours Friday after a southbound tractor-trailer hauling propane overturned and began to leak, according to Idaho State Police.

    The interstate was closed much of the day from mile marker 17 to 22, just north of Malad City.

    The accident happened shortly after noon when David Eliason, of Malad, was driving south on I-15 in a Chevrolet tanker truck that carried about 26,000 pounds of propane. The driver’s-side tire blew, causing him to lose control of the vehicle.

    Then Eliason’s truck sideswiped a Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Robert Stites, 69, of Pocatello. That forced Stites' Trailblazer off the road. Stites wasn't hurt.

    But Eliason’s semitrailer struck a guardrail and rolled, and the propane began to leak. Eliason, 56, was taken to the Oneida County Hospital and then to the Logan Regional Hospital in Logan, Utah. No immediate update on his condition was available late Friday.

     Following the initial crash, authorities detoured all the northbound and southbound traffic from I-15 onto the frontage road, Old Highway 91. But then a crash on that route blocked the detour shortly before 4 p.m.

     It happened when a semitrailer driven by Ricky Kaita, 51, of El Dorado Hills, Calif., was traveling south on the frontage road at Devil's Creek, following the detour. Kaita encountered a sharp curve and did not make a wide enough turn.

     His vehicle slipped off the roadway, and both the truck and trailer overturned, partially blocking the road. That completely blocked traffic for more than three hours. No other detours were available. Traffic flow didn’t resume until authorities removed the semitrailer that Kaita was driving. Kaita wasn't hurt.

    Meanwhile, state police said cleanup of the tractor-trailer accident on I-15 was complicated by the need to safely handle and remove the propane.

    Due to the large amount of propane, crews tried to unload the gas while the vehicle was still overturned to minimize the danger of a fire or explosion.

    When that didn't work, they had to carefully upright the loaded tank trailer. Then they unloaded the propane to safely transport it.

    Ultimately, the northbound lanes of I-15 were reopened by 9 p.m. and the southbound lanes were reopened within the following hour.

    Stites was wearing a seat belt, but it’s unknown if Eliason or Kaita were wearing seat belts. Alcohol is not suspected as a factor in either accident, according to state police.