The driver of truck carrying a full load of propane gas was lucky not to go up in a giant fireball when he was involved in a high speed collision yesterday.

In the first of two freak accidents, two people were injured when a cyclist collided first with another cyclist and then with the gas tanker.

The accident happened on Middle Road, Warwick at about 1 p.m.

Warwick Academy student Geza Wolf, 16, was struck first by the out of control scooter.

Mr. Wolf said there was a lot of traffic going east as he was waiting to make a turn onto Keith Hall Road.

The traffic was bumper to bumper when he saw the rider coming towards him and tried to move his three month old bike out the way.

But it was too late and the rider's handlebars and shoulders struck his side and Mr. Wolf was knocked to the ground.

When he got up he saw that the other rider had ploughed into the tanker.

Mr. Wolf received first aid at the scene but did not require hospital treatment.

Bermuda Gas driver Curtis Minors said: “Thank the Lord he hit me in the front of the truck and not the back because that is where the pipes for the gas are.The back is where I fill the truck and tank from.

“If he ruptured the pipes and there was a gas leak - it could have been terrible”.

However, the main propane pump motor was located underneath the truck, he said.

“Propane leaks are dangerous. They would have had to clear the road and empty the tank. It is a highly volatile and explosive gas. I was frightened as the devil,” Mr. Minors said.

The tanker truck was full of propane as Mr. Minors was on his way to a delivery when the motorcycle hit him.

“It happened so fast. I was driving up the road and saw a blur and a young school guy getting hit off his bike,” he said.

“I saw him flying down the road, coming towards me. He was definitely going fast. He was overtaking. He hit a woman's car and lost control. He was sliding down the road on the side of his bike. I jammed the breaks and pulled to the left. I felt a thud. I did not know if it was the bike or him”.

Police, Fire and Ambulance personnel were at the scene and the injured biek rider was taken to hospital. His condition was not known by Press time last night.

In a separate incident yesterday, a delivery van got a new sun roof after attempting to drive under Manor House Bridge in Harrington Sound.

The van had its roof shaved off was badly damaged after its close encounter with the low bridge.

A Police spokesman said: “At 12.40 p.m. Police attended a reported single vehicle damage only traffic collision on Harrington Sound Road in Smith's parish.

“It appears that a Bermuda Forwarders truck was travelling west on Harrington Sound Road when the top of the vehicle collided with the Manor House Bridge, causing extensive damage to the top of the truck.

“The driver, a 53 year-old Warwick man, was not injured in the collision.”

Bermuda Forwarders Operations Manager Hal Kemp said the van “was a write-off”.

However, The Royal Gazette understands the bridge was not badly damaged.

“Fortunately for the bridge the top cover was thin aluminium,” Mr. Kemp said.

“The driver wasn't paying attention. He was not showing due care. One would think they would know that when you have something tall not to go under the bridge. It's even dangerous for tractor trailers to go that way because they have to go on the middle of the road to make the corner”.

He said smaller Bermuda Forwarders trucks could fit under the bridge and the driver must have forgotten what truck he was in.

“The guy blanked out,” he said.

But he would not confirm whether the Warwick man was still driving for the company.

The van was full of trash which was being taken to Tyne's Bay to be dumped.

“Its retirement was sped up a couple of years but it might be possible to salvage the chassis,” Mr. Kemp said .