Truck carrying frozen fish lands in Sammamish River

A semi-trailer truck carrying 51,000 pounds of frozen salmon came to rest upside down in the Sammamish River on Wednesday, after it went out of control leaving Highway 520 near Marymoor Park.

Hundreds of cardboard boxes of salmon could be seen floating in the river through the afternoon, while clouds of wasps circled around burst-open boxes along the trail. Containment booms were spread across the river downstream from the spill and crews were being brought in to work under lights through the night to recover the salmon and prevent drawing such animals as bears to the scene, the State Patrol reported.

The incident occurred about 10 a.m. as the truck was leaving Highway 520 on an eastbound exit ramp leading to West Lake Sammamish Parkway, said Washington State Patrol Trooper Clifford Pratt, public-information officer.

The truck and trailer careened down the exit ramp, crossed West Lake Sammamish Parkway, went airborne over the Sammamish River Trail and descended down a 30-foot embankment, ending up in the river with its cab partly submerged and cargo spilling from the ruptured trailer.

The driver and a passenger received minor injuries, but both were able to escape from the cab on their own.

The driver reported the truck had brake failure, said Pratt, but the vehicle left several hundred feet of skid marks. About 55 gallons of diesel fuel were believed to be in the truck's tanks, but no fuel leakage appeared to have occurred, said Pratt.

An oil-control boom was spread across the river as a precaution and the state Department of Ecology also was called to the location.

The 31-year-old driver was identified as Amrik Thind, of Puyallup. He was taken to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue and released. The 62-year-old passenger was identified as Thomas Henshaw, 62, from the Olympia area. He was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center with minor injuries. Thind was a trainee driver, undergoing training from Henshaw.

Pratt said clean-up crews were particularly concerned about possible contamination in the river from the salmon, which were in a ground-up, patty-like form. The rapidly thawing salmon were quickly attracting insects, he said.

The truck and trailer were pulled from the river about 4 p.m. and moved to the trail, where they rested with the roof of the trailer ripped open and truck cab crushed on its right side.

West Lake Sammamish Parkway was closed to traffic for about two hours as the accident was investigated.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com