At 6:50 a.m., a road tanker transporting 26 m³ (30 tonnes) of liquid oxygen collided head on with a lorry carrying non-hazardous materials and fell over onto the D97 highway. The cabs of both vehicles caught fire, killing both drivers. The firefighters set up a 100 m safety cordon, sprayed a blanket of foam to prevent the ignition of a fire in the case of a leak, and evacuated 27 employees from two nearby businesses. One was slightly injured while being evacuated. A nearby power line was disconnected as a preventive measure and a generator set was brought in to supply power to the 40 people affected by the disconnection. The firefighters extinguished the fire at 9:30 a.m. and contacted an emergency management body to find out what measures to take when raising the tank. First, half the tank’s contents were emptied (to balance the pressures) into a tank of equivalent capacity. Then, the tank was righted and emptied of the remaining 15 tonnes of liquid oxygen. The work was finished at 1:30 a.m. The mayor and the subprefect arrived at the scene.

An eyewitness told the press that he had seen the oxygen tanker zigzagging prior to the collision.