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A driver carrying fuel canisters in her car flipped over, setting herself and the car on fire - another hoarding accident since the Colonial Pipeline was taken out

May 15, 2021, 18:11 IST
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A local woman appears to have captured the scene of the blazing car in this Facebook video.Sarah Wilson/Facebook
  • A woman who was carrying hoarded fuel set herself and her car on fire Friday, police say.
  • She lost control of the vehicle after police gave chase and was rushed to hospital.
  • There has been another similar case since the Colonial Pipeline was hacked, causing shortages.
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A South Carolina woman who was carrying hoarded gas canisters in her car flipped over in a police chase, engulfing the car - and herself - in flames Friday, according to police.

Pickens County Sheriff's Office reported in a Facebook post that they had set out in pursuit of Jessica Gale Patterson's 2007 Pontiac G6 after they identified the plate as being from a stolen car.

Patterson sped up in an attempt to get away, but lost control of the car and flipped over, causing the car to burst into flames, police said. The 28-year-old then ran out of the car, on fire herself.

A local person posted the following video to Facebook, which appears to show the scene:

Patterson told police she had been carrying several canisters of gas at the time. It's the second such accident since hackers targeted the Colonial Pipeline, triggering gas shortages, price increases and mass panic-buying. More than 1,000 gas stations ran dry in the disruption.

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Hackers exacted a ransom worth almost $5 million in cryptocurrency from the company when they took out the pipeline, the largest in the US, on May 7.

The pipeline resumed operations Wednesday but warned that supplies would still be limited in the near future until it can catch up with the shortfall.

Patterson was taken to hospital for treatment, police said. The accident comes soon after a Hummer, carrying four five-gallon cans of gas in the trunk, also caught fire on Wednesday in Florida, severely damaging the car.

Hummer that caught fire in Citrus County, FloridaCitrus County Fire

At a White House press briefing Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg called for sensible behavior around the shortages.

"This is a time to be sensible and to be safe," he said. "Of course, we understand the concern in the areas where people are encountering temporary supply disruptions, but hoarding does not make things better.

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"And under no circumstances should gasoline ever be put into anything but a vehicle directly or an approved container."

Gas tanks found inside the Hummer.Citrus County Fire

A video that has widely circulated online of a woman filling a plastic bag with gasoline prompted the US Product Safety Commission to tweet Wednesday: "Do not fill plastic bags with gasoline." However, that footage has been revealed to pre-date the pipeline outage, Reuters reported.

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