A tank truck carrying 25 tons of toxic chemical overturned early
on Thursday on a freeway in east China's Zhejiang Province, causing a major spill,
according to local sources.
The accident took place around 1:12 AM on Thursday when the tank
truck heading for Wenzhou, a booming city, on the
Jinhua-Lishui-Wenzhou freeway ran into the opposite lane after its
left front tire went flat, and then landed on its roof, leaking all
the chemical -- confirmed to be dimethylformanide, commonly known
as DMF, a toxic organic solvent -- on the freeway.
The traffic on the freeway was suspended temporarily because of
the spill.
Local environmental workers used water to dilute and sweep the
chemical off the freeway, said local sources. Traffic on the
concerned freeway was resumed at 10 AM.
No report about the immediate damage of the spill is available
at the moment.
(Xinhua News Agency March 8, 2007)