Complex sentence: A very large crater, wide and deep, was left where the truck had been and within a few hours was filling up partially with salt-water from the Persian Gulf, which is less than one mile (1.6 km) away.
Split into simpler sentences: A very large crater, wide and deep, was left where the truck had been. Within a few hours of the blast, the crater began to fill with salt-water from the Persian Gulf, which is less than one mile (1.6 km) away.