David Cronkite, a truckdriver working for Don Hislop Trucking of Embro, Ontario, Canada, died Tuesday after his rig collided with a concrete wall in the westbound lanes of I-40 near Winston-Salem, NC, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

While the exact cause of the accident was not yet determined, North Carolina Highway Patrol Trooper P.M. Dixson told the Journal the driver might have swerved to avoid a deer.

Published reports indicated the truck swerved to the left and hit the wall. Its fuel tank exploded, and the truck slid more than 100 yards before coming to rest with its cab hanging over the edge of the bridge. Its load - small rubber parts - and the right fuel tank soon caught fire as well.

Witnesses told the newspaper that Cronkite emerged from the truck covered in flames and fell 60 feet off the bridge. He landed below on the shoulder of Business 40 and was dead by the time paramedics arrived.

Deer have caused a number of accidents along that stretch of I-40, Dixson told the newspaper. However, officials at the Winston-Salem office of the Highway Patrol were not sure when additional information on the accident, including their determination of the cause, would be released.