By Brian Stanley and Steve Metsch
The Chicago Sun-Times
NEW LENOX, Ill. — Two cars crashed through a fence and into an oil pipeline in the southwest suburbs early Saturday — killing two men, critically injuring three others and setting off a fiery explosion and oil fire that burned for hours, officials said.
The fire that erupted in New Lenox Township could be seen from at least a half-mile away and wasn’t put out until 5 a.m., three hours after the explosion, and the pipeline wasn’t capped for six hours. The situation was so hazardous that even by Saturday afternoon, coroner’s officials had not been able to recover the bodies.
“This is horrible, horrible, horrible,” said New Lenox Police Chief Bob Sterba. The five men involved in the crash were all in their 20s and reside in New Lenox, Sterba said.
One of those killed was identified as Zachary Orel, a Posen firefighter. He also has worked for Trace Ambulance in Tinley Park, the company confirmed Saturday. His relatives declined to comment Saturday.
It was not clear what led to the crash at 2:05 a.m. at an Enbridge Energy pipeline in an industrial park east of Schoolhouse Road and south of Old Plank Road Trail, officials said.
A Ford Mustang with two people inside and an SUV with three occupants were apparently driving side by side when they went through a chain-link fence at the end of a dead-end road and traveled about 125 feet before striking the pipeline. The crash ignited the crude oil inside the pipeline.
A worker said the impact with the pipe appeared to have “sheared off” the top of the Mustang.
New Lenox Police Officer Eric Etchison was a half-mile from the scene when he saw the flames and rushed to the scene, Sterba said. Etchison helped three men get out of the fenced-in area, Sterba said. However, he was unable to reach the two men in the other car because of “significant flames,” Sterba said.
“He certainly was quite frustrated because the other car, the flames and heat were so intense, he couldn’t get near it,” Sterba said.
The pipeline was reportedly burning until 5 a.m. The crude oil leak was capped at 8 a.m., said Rich Adams, vice president of U.S. operations for Enbridge Energy Company.
Firefighters rushed three men to Silver Cross Hospital for treatment, Mead said. Two men were soon transferred to the burn unit at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, Sterba said. One man was so badly injured he was airlifted via helicopter, he said.
Officials did not identify the victims Saturday. “The hazardous conditions have prevented us from confirming and recovering the bodies,” Will County Coroner Patrick K. O’Neil said Saturday afternoon.
New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann said he knew two of the victims through his son, and played basketball with the men last summer. He declined to name the victims because he was not sure if their families had been notified.
“What a terrible accident. We feel badly for the families and the victims,” Baldermann said. Said Posen Mayor Donald Schupek: “I’m sorry that it’s such a waste of young life.”
Balderman said later Saturday that there was “no danger at this time to the public, the situation has been contained.”
Copyright 2012 Chicago Sun-Times