A tractor-trailer collided with a North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) vehicle in a fiery Interstate 77 crash shortly after noon, but an official said there were no serious injuries.

John Shelton, the Surry County emergency services director, said the wreck occurred around 12:40 p.m. when the eighteen-wheeler collided with a DOT vehicle at the 96-mile marker near Mitchell River Bridge.

He said the vehicle was part of a debris clean-up operation in the northbound lane of the interstate. Shelton said as the truck approached, DOT workers were forced to jump from its path to avoid injury.

“The driver (of the truck) did not remember what happened,” Shelton said. “He struck the DOT vehicle...continued along the bridge railing until the truck caught on fire.”

The driver was able to escape with what Shelton said were minor injuries to his lower extremities and declined to be transported to a hospital by emergency services personnel. None of the DOT workers were hurt.

Shelton said the truck was carrying a trailer full of textiles from a Sarah Lee facility in Kings Mountain.

The truck and trailer were total losses in the fire, Shelton said. About 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the Mitchell River, but Shelton said hazardous materials teams were able to put absorbent booms into the river to soak up the material. He said an environmental clean-up team is due on the site today to remove the booms and to put soil cleaning operations into effect.

Traffic was halted for a time and slowed for much of the afternoon as a result of the crash.

“We were able to open up one northbound lane within 20 minutes of when the incident occurred, then able to open up both northbound lanes around 3:30 (p.m.)” he said.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol officer who worked the wreck was not available for comment Monday after working the scene, and officials with the Highway Patrol did not have access to his report.