Newsday

The accident occurred on an access road that leads from westbound Conduit Avenue to a residential neighborhood in South Ozone Park, just east of the Van Wyck Expressway.

Some 280 firefighters responded to the gasoline and diesel fire, which was called in at 12:14 p.m. and took two hours to extinguish, fire officials said.

The driver, who was not identified, was the only person killed. There were no other injuries, they said.

Even after the fire was out, the victim's body remained in the cab for hours while the remaining fuel was pumped out of the charred tanker. Firefighters said that until hundreds of gallons of fuel had been removed it was too dangerous to tend to the body.

As night fell, the tanker lay on its side on a grassy embankment, surrounded by firefighters, police and officials from the city's departments of buildings, environmental services and emergency services. A faint odor of gasoline filled the air. Remnants of an alcohol-based foam used to smother the fire was visible on the side of the road.

A Department of Buildings inspector said scores of windows in an unoccupied former hotel near the fire were cracked by the heat of the blaze.

"It was a major concern to protect the structure," Fire Chief James Hodgens said.

Police said they had not determined a cause of the accident.

Longtime resident Rick Nelson, 74, was in the basement of his two-story home when he heard a huge noise.

"There must have been at least three explosions," he said, separated by intervals. "Each time the house trembled. I looked out the window and saw [the truck] engulfed in flames."

Nelson recalled numerous accidents there, including a minor school bus crash about 10 years ago.

Another resident of the neighborhood said the sudden, sharp turn often led drivers to lose control.

"There are car accidents all the time," said Denzel Thomas, 38.