A fuel tanker driver is lucky to be alive following a collision Wednesday afternoon that spilled home heating oil and closed both lanes of Highway 11 in Kilworthy, just south of Gravenhurst.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on March 5, Bracebridge OPP were dispatched to the multi-vehicle collision involving two tractor-trailers that were both travelling northbound prior to the accident.

Upon arrival, OPP members observed large amounts of debris across both sides of the highway and one of the tractor-trailers on its roof across the southbound lanes.

According to a media release from Bracebridge OPP, the transport truck and empty trailer from Beloil St-Hilaire Transport of Quebec was exiting Hwy. 11 into a Shell gas station when it was struck by a fuel tanker carrying 50,000 litres of home heating oil from Armand-Couture of Hearst.

The fuel tanker lost control, rolled over the cement guardrails of the centre median and into the southbound lanes, landing upside down, said the release.

The OPP confirmed the collision caused a breach in the tanks carrying the heating oil, spilling approximately 15,000 litres into the west ditch of the highway.

Both lanes of the highway were closed for the oil and debris cleanup by the Gravenhurst Fire Department and Ministry of the Environment. The remaining oil was transferred into another tanker, said police.

The northbound lanes of Hwy. 11 reopened about 2 a.m. Thursday, while southbound traffic was rerouted along Kilworthy Road until about 9:30 a.m.

The driver of the first tractor-trailer was not injured and the driver of the tanker, 47-year-old Yvan Plamondon of Mattice, was taken to South Muskoka Memorial Hospital in Bracebridge to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Plamondon was expected to be released from hospital Thursday and has been charged with careless driving.

Investigators indicated it could easily have been a fatal collision and it’s fortunate that more vehicles were not directly involved. During the collision, the cab of the fuel tanker became dislodged from the truck as it rolled over the median and propelled Plamondon away from the spilled oil, probably saving his life, OPP said.