Cops look for driver who caused wreck

Groton, Conn. (WTNH) - The oil clean-up continues as the search is on for a driver accused of causing a tanker truck crash in Groton.

By late Wednesday night traffic was moving once again on I-95 North, but the work of the DEEP continued well into Thursday.

The Wednesday afternoon accident shut down I-95 North for several hours and dumped 1,200 gallons of home heating oil from the overturned tanker truck. The mess which soon became the concern of DEEP crews who worked through the night and into Thursday recovering 2,700 gallons of an oil water mixture and 320 tons of oil soaked soil.

The mess was caused after witnesses say a car cut off the tanker truck, causing it to hit two other cars and roll over. All three drivers were injured.

State police are now trying to track down the driver of that car.

In the meantime, the clean up continues. Test wells have been dug and show the oil has traveled into the ground water.

"We're in the process of recovering the oil that is floating on top of the ground water and our biggest concern at this point is the fact that there is ledge in the immediate area and if there is any contamination, that has the ability to get into the fractures of the ledge and our concerns will be the area drinking wells," said DEEP official Jeff Chandler. "We will be surveying the houses on Flanders Road and Bantam Farm Road."

DEEP doesn't expect contamination to reach nearby homes for a while, but if it does then filters would have to be put on those private wells.