Murray County semi truck accident catches fire; Driver and passenger in critical condition

MURRAY COUNTY, Okla. (KXII) -- A semi truck veered right, rolled over, caught on fire and ejected two people on Monday night on Interstate 35 in Murray County.

"The view was kind of far, but I saw the truck was rolled over and there was kind of police cars around it and fire department trucks," says witness Lynda Kennedy.

Kennedy saw this semi truck in flames from her home in the Arbuckle mountains in Murray County.

"It's really dry right now so I'm really happy that didn't take off into a huge wild fire," says Davis Assistant Chief of Police Dee Gregory.

"When I came up to the scene of course you can see the flames, the truck was pretty much engulfed in flames," says Oklahoma Highway Trooper Mike Shanholtzer.

The accident happened in between mile markers 46 and 47 on northbound I-35 around 8:25 p.m.

Troopers say the semi was driven by Jamme Barrera, 28, and Michael Fowler, 24, was a passenger.

Shanholtzer says the oil drilling rig semi veered off to the right and the truck didn't swerve.

"At some point the vehicle rolled over at an unknown number of times at least one complete time and caught on fire, both the driver and passenger were ejected," says Trooper Shanholtzer.

Wrecker services have been trying for hours Tuesday morning to take away what's left of the once 50,000 pound semi.

Shanholtzer says first responders had to work together to get Barrera and Fowler in safety.

"You try to stay as calm as you can, its kind of a nerve wrecking situation and adrenaline is moving and you're trying to help people out, but the best thing to do is to stay calm and try to work together and do the best you can to give help to people who need it," Shanholtzer said.

Barrera and Fowler are currently in an OKC hospital and in critical condition.