ARTICLE 2:
   MONROE, La. (AP) -- Bomb experts worked Friday to remove U.S.
Army surface-to-air missiles from a truck that swerved across an
interstate highway and crashed.
   About 1,000 people were evacuated the area after the Thursday
afternoon accident, and the road was closed.
   "They'll be gone until the situation is under control," Police
Chief Joe Stewart said.
   Bomb experts from Barksdale Air Force Base, about 100 miles to
the west, were brought in to take the Hawk missiles off the flatbed
and check them for damage.
   The truck, which wound up lying at a 45-degree angle on its side,
was righted Friday morning and by 8:30 a.m. all but one of the 12
missiles had been removed.
   "They off-loaded them into the middle of the interstate, where
they will open up the crates and check the explosives," said
Stewart. "Then they'll load them onto another flatbed."
   It would probably be late morning before people are allowed to
return to their homes, Stewart said.
   The truck spilled some diesel fuel, which fire units washed down
and covered with dirt and sand to prevent fire, Stewart said. He
said the only other thing that could set off the missiles would be
compression.
   The shipment, with a driver and a backup driver, originated in
Concord, Calif., he said. It was en route to the Red River Army
Depot in Texarkana, Texas, following stops in Illinois and Alabama.
The truck was owned by a private company contracted by the Army.
    Both of the truck's occupants were hospitalized in stable
condition, but a supervisor at St. Francis Medical Center would
not release their names.
   The accident, which occurred about 4:10 p.m., forced the closure
of Interstate 20 for about three miles.
   "It was westbound on I-20, just entering the city limits,"
Stewart said. "For some reason we do not know at this time, the
18-wheeler crossed the median, crossed the eastbound lanes, jumped a
30-foot concrete canal, went through a chain link fence and came to
rest under the carport of a house."
   "It is a classified shipment. It is not classified due to the
explosives, but probably because of the technology," Stewart said.
   Stewart said he was not warned that the shipment would be moving
through his city.
   "This military ordnance is shipped by interstate highway on a
regular basis," Stewart said. "But on New Year's Eve, this came as a
hell of a surprise."