A tanker truck carrying potentially explosive ammonium nitrate has overturned on a Maryland highway - sparking mass evacuations.
The truck carrying the materials tipped over on the southbound side of Interstate 81 in Hagerstown, about an hour west of Baltimore.
Authorities have asked businesses within 1,500 feet of the scene to evacuate and the road will remain closed for an extended time.
According to Maryland State Police, the crash happened at around 6:15am on Monday.
They said on Twitter that the crash happened along the northbound side of the road near Halfway Boulevard.
First responders are headed to the scene but it's unclear if there is any injuries.
However, images released by local ABC affiliate WJLA show the overturned truck on the side of the road without any fire visible.
Police have said the road will remain closed for an 'extended time' and have asked people to avoid the area.
In their last public update posted at 9am EST, they added that the northbound I-81 has been reopened. The southbound road remains closed.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Maryland State Police for more details.
Ammonium Nitrate is a chemical used to make fertilizers and explosives. It's also used as a nutrient in producing antibiotics and yeast.
Earlier this month, a section of Interstate 95 near Philadelphia collapsed after a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline flipped over on an off-ramp and caught fire, killing the driver and shutting down the major East Coast transportation artery.
I-95 is the East Coast's main north-south highway and stretches 1,924 miles from the Canadian border in Maine to Miami. Speaking to reporters at the site of the deadly overpass collapse, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said there's 'no question' the incident will impact the price of goods by raising the cost of shipping. On average, about 160,000 vehicles per day used the impacted section of interstate, he said, some 8 percent of which were commercial trucks, or about 12,800. Officials have said that it could take several months to rebuild the collapsed portion of the interstate. The collapse is snarling traffic in Philadelphia as the summer travel season starts, upending hundreds of thousands of morning commutes, disrupting countless businesses and forcing trucking companies to find different routes.
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