BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
MANALAPAN — A two-vehicle accident forced Millhurst Road to be closed on the morning of Feb. 16 so that damage to a bridge and a natural gas pipeline could be repaired.
According to a press release issued by the Manalapan Police Department, Ugar Ceylan, 27, of Brick, was traveling north on Millhurst Road (Route 527) at 8:09 a.m.
After crossing a bridge that spans a tributary of the Manalapan Brook, Ceylan was “unable to negotiate a curve in the road and crossed over the double-yellow center line into opposite line of travel.”
Police said Ceylan’s 1993 Dodge Stealth crashed into a delivery truck driven by Harold Drada, of Roselle Park. A passenger, Julio Quintava, of Elizabeth, was also in the truck. Police did not state the age of Drada or Quintava.
The truck was heading south on Millhurst Road when the collision caused the vehicle, which was loaded with kitchen cabinets and countertops, to run off the road and “strike and severely damage the guardrail and timber wing wall of the bridge; strike and damage a 4-inch natural gas line.”
The truck then overturned and continued down the embankment into the Manalapan Brook tributary where its diesel fuel spilled into the waterway.
All three men were transported to CentraState Medical Center, Freehold Township, for observation.
Responding to and assisting at the scene were the Monmouth County Hazmat Team, Monmouth County Bridge Department, New Jersey Natural Gas Company, Jersey Central Power and Light Company, Englishtown-Manalapan First Aid Squad, Englishtown Fire Department and Manalapan Township Fire Department.
Millhurst Road was closed to vehicular traffic until all repairs were completed.
According to police, motor vehicle charges are pending the results of the investigation.