The driver of a tractor-trailer rig was killed early Friday when his vehicle careened off of Highway 99 onto the frontage road south of Mitchell Road and north of the Faith Home Road overpass.

The accident was reported at 3:20 a.m. when motorists saw the vehicle laying on its side in the northbound shoulder. For some unknown reason, the truck veered off the pavement and sideswiped a parked big-rig and a Toyota Camry also parked on the shoulder. The second big-rig was unoccupied while none of the three Winton occupants in the Toyota were hurt. The tractor-trailer rig dipped down into a slight embankment where it overturned onto the driver’s side. The cab plowed through a chain-link fence and came to rest just feet from the western edge of Rohde Road.

The California Highway Patrol reported that a highly corrosive fluid was leaking from the trailer and fuel spilled from the tractor.

The 54-year-old victim was identified by one social media post as Muni Kumar, a Fiji immigrant who was living in Sacramento.

The resulting backup on the morning commute from Turlock into Modesto caused additional problems north in the northbound number 1 lane. At 10:30 a.m. multiple cars were involved in a chain reaction crash north of Keyes Road with one woman lying in the number 1 number one lane. There were reports that a passenger vehicle partially went underneath a van.