9 October 2023
A swimmer from Lake Elmo was among those hospitalized last week after exposure to a chemical that spilled last month when a tanker truck overturned in central Illinois.
Five people died as a result of the Sept. 29 exposure to the anhydrous ammonia — a chemical that can burn or corrode organic tissue.
Sarah Tague, 18, of Lake Elmo, was injured in an anhydrous ammonia leak from a tanker truck that crashed on Sept. 29, 2023, near Teutopolis, Ill. (Courtesy of GoFundMe)
Sarah Tague, 18, of Lake Elmo, was in a car with three other swimmers from the University of Missouri’s recreational swim club on the way to a swim meet in Ohio when the tanker truck, traveling on U.S. 40 near Teutopolis, Ill., veered to the right to avoid a collision when another vehicle tried to pass it, according to the Associated Press.
The tanker truck jackknifed, toppled and hit the trailer hitch of a vehicle parked just off the road, leaving it with a 6-inch hole in the chemical container, the AP reported. More than half of the tanker’s 7,500-gallon load of anhydrous ammonia spilled. About 500 residents within a one-mile radius of the crash site were evacuated after the accident, according to ABC-7 TV.
Tague and the three other swimmers witnessed the crash and “immediately got out of the car and ran in an attempt to protect themselves from the harmful gas spilling out into the air,” according to an online fundraiser for the students. “As they all ran in different directions, they ended up falling into ditches on the side of the road where they remained until being found by EMS.”
Tague’s parents learned about the accident when they got a call from someone informing them that their daughter was “in a four car pile up with a tanker containing anhydrous ammonia and we don’t know where she is,” according to a GoFundMe online fundraiser set up for Tague. “This is absolutely a parent’s worst nightmare coming true.”
Tague, who graduated from Stillwater Area High School in June, was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Springfield, Ill., where she was placed on a ventilator in the intensive-care unit and treated for “swelling and irritation to her lungs, throat, skin and eyes,” according to the post. On Wednesday, her health had improved to the point that she was able to be taken off the ventilator, according to the GoFundMe page.
“It is hard to say how long the recovery will be, but it is certain that it will take time,” the fundraiser reads.
Money raised by the GoFundMe page will assist the Tagues with medical costs, the LifeFlight trip, transportation costs, hotel stays and more. As of Monday, it had raised about $21,000 of the $30,000 goal.
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