Islip roadway reopens after truck oil spill

Route 111 at Long Island Motor Parkway in Islip has reopened after a truck carrying 3,000 gallons of home heating oil overturned Wednesday afternoon closing the roads for several hours, an official said.

The truck was headed northbound on Route 111 at 2:18 p.m. when a minivan in the left turning lane, turned right and hit the fuel truck, Suffolk Police said. The impact flipped the truck over, police said.

"It appears that at least 1,000 gallons of . . . oil has leaked," said Bill Fonda, a spokesman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Fonda said officials received a 911 call about the accident at 2:25 p.m.

Suffolk County police officers, a hazmat team, the DEC and Clearview Environmental, a private company hired to clean up the spill, were on the scene Wednesday, Fonda said.

Officials were vacuuming oil from the ground and recovering the tanker's remaining oil supply, he said. As of 4 p.m., more than 600 gallons of oil had been cleaned up or recovered from inside the truck, Fonda said.

The two drivers and a passenger in the van were all taken to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore with nonlife threatening injuries, Suffolk Police said.

Fonda said officials from the state DEC were trying to determine how much oil leaked into nearby drainage systems.

"It would be very unlikely that this would have any type of impact on drinking water," he said.

A Suffolk County police spokeswoman said the roads were back open to drivers Wednesday night.