(Afton, Iowa) – The driver of a semi was seriously injured when the truck crashed and burned late Thursday afternoon near Afton, in Union County. The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports a call came in to the Communications Center at around 4:40-p.m., about a 2001 International semi tractor-trailer that was found on fire in a ditch off of Redwood Avenue near 220th Street. When a sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene, he was informed that the driver of the truck, 55-year-old Mark John Becker, of Tingley, was out of the vehicle, and was pulled away from the burning vehicle.

The deputy observed the semi was on its side in the east ditch, and the fire had spread about nine-yards in front of the vehicle before being extinguished. Firefighters were working to treat Becker in a pile of corn just east of the semi. The owner of the semi told the deputy that Becker was driving for him, and was hauling corn they had just finished loading. A firefighter on the scene that it appeared that the fire started from the semi’s hot muffler and spread in the dry grass, to the cab.

Becker suffered burns to his lower legs and head/neck injuries. He was transported by helicopter to Methodist Hospital in Des Moines. A report on his condition was not provided. The Union County Sheriff’s Department report said a ticket would be issued to the truck owner, David Cheers, for “Permitting an unauthorized person to drive.” The semi sustained $10,000 damage and was a total loss.