Driver in tanker collission dies

The driver of an SUV that collided with a gasoline tanker late Wednesday night has died from his injuries.

The head-on crash happened on the Highway 6 Caledonia bypass. James Merrilees, 45, of Norfolk County was removed from the SUV by OPP officers and Six Nations police and taken to West Haldimand Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Firefighters from Caledonia and Hagersville spent hours spraying cold water on the large tanks of gas to cool them down before trying to remove them from a ditch.

The driver of the tanker escaped with non-life threatening injuries, before his truck was engulfed by flames and destroyed.