Ford and Haggerty reopens after fiery Canton crash sends multiple to the hospital

CANTON, Mich. (FOX 2) - An explosion involving a semi-truck blocked a major intersection in Canton for hours Wednesday afternoon and police say close to a dozen people were taken to the hospital.

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Ford Road and Haggerty have since opened back up in both directions. It’s still unclear as to how the incident unfolded, but witnesses tell FOX 2 what they saw and how they helped the victims.

"The way it was I told her it’s going to be an accident right there," said witness Amna Latif. "She said ‘are you sure?’ I said I’m positive the way I saw it."

Latif’s instincts were right. She says she was driving with her 17-year-old daughter Fatima on Haggerty Road Wednesday, and just by looking at the placement of a red SUV and a semi-truck, she knew something was going to happen. 

Seconds later, it did.

"We just started, you know, seeing some kinds of, you know, like a boom go out. So I told her let’s park in the IKEA parking lot," said Latif.

The explosion, caught on cell phone video. 

They pulled over and Fatima called 911.

Latif says they saw the driver of the semi-truck get out, but he had a hard time walking. So they rushed to help him and they started seeing fumes.

"She and I helped the police officers bring the semi-truck driver into one of the sidewalks and lay him down," said Latif. "We kept asking him ‘are you ok? Is it hurting you somewhere? What’s going on?’ And then he told us ‘There’s people in the red SUV. Are they okay?’"

"As soon as the semi-truck driver told us that there were other people in the other car, me and the other person rushed over to the police that were standing, see where the traffic light is, they were standing over there," said Fatima Baqir.

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Fatima says police were getting the people out before multiple explosions. She saw two men and a woman.

"I stood with one of the guys and I had called his mom for him and just let her know," she said. "He was like, he was on fire and it was like blood everywhere. And the girl looked severely injured."

Police say in total 9 people, including a few officers, were taken to the hospital. Latif and Fatima say they’re grateful they jumped into action, and grateful they made a right turn onto Haggerty instead of a left.

Fatima, who’s studying to become an EMT, says the officers were quick. She applauds how fast they worked. Others told us police were the first on scene. Five of them received medical attention.