An overturned tanker burst into flames after flipping over on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Rutherford Thursday.

Turnpike spokesman Joe Orlando says the truck flipped over at about 3 p.m. as it was exiting the northbound turnpike at Exit 16W and burst into flames. The tanker?s driver, 33-year-old New Yorker Rajinder Singh, is in critical but stable condition.

Singh is recovering from second and third-degree burns at University Hospital. He was whisked to the hospital by car after two passing drivers stopped to help. Singh?s clothes were on fire and the Good Samaritans were able to squelch the flames by wrapping a coat around him.

Smoke from the fire was visible as far south as Woodbridge.

The accident scene snarled traffic all night on both the Turnpike and surrounding roads like Route 3. Exit 16W has reopened after being closed for most of the night.

AP wires contributed to this article.