Storage Tank Failures

QR National is investigating a major chemical incident after a train carrying sulphuric acid derailed at Cloncurry.  Six of 15 bullet wagons loaded with the dangerous chemical derailed at the Cloncurry station about 5.15pm on Friday.  One is leaning over and will be emptied.  A QR National spokesman said there had been no chemical leak and the cause of the derailment was still being investigated.  “There is no major issues … this was a low level derailment … we are working with firies,” the spokesman said.  A Queensland Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said fire crews would begin decanting the chemical from the wagons once QR National investigations were complete.  “When that process begins we may have to look at putting in evacuation zones around the stations in case of a leak, to consider all scenarios,” the spokeswoman said.  “We are probably looking at three days to get that done because it is a complicated process.”

October 24, 2011 - Emergency services are in the fourth day of clean up following the derailment of a train carrying acid near Cloncurry.  The QR National train, which had more than 1.5 megalitres of sulphuric acid on board, jumped the tracks at the Cloncurry railway station late Friday afternoon, the North West Star reports.  The train's 52 carriages were each holding around 32 000 litres of acid.  According to Queensland Fire and Rescue Service inspector Ross Mutzelburg no acid was actually spilled in the incident.  "Thirteen of them are derailed but they're still upright," he told the North West Star.  Around a dozen firefighters were at the accident site on Sunday to oversee the recovery.  Mutzelburg said it was a dangerous job as the train's carriages were linked to one another by a network of hoses through which the acid flowed.  "We've got experts here undoing the hoses and pumping the acid out. They're wearing acid protection suits which get very hot so there's always a bit of risk to them  "It takes about two hours to disconnect each hose."  He went on to say that every time a hose is disconnected there is a chance the acid may spill.  However "there's only been about a cup spilled, which isn't bad out of more than a million litres".  There is no danger to the public, as the train derailed away from the town.  Track repairs will be needed, but disruption to services is expected to be minimal as the incident occurred in the rail yard, and not the line itself.  According to the CourierMail, the train came from the Phosphate Hill mine.

Authorities in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan confirmed on Wednesday that a road accident had triggered the spillage of 38 tons of concentrated sulphuric acid into a tributary of the Yangtze River.  The spill happened on Sunday after two vehicles collided on a bridge where the Chaotian to Guangyuan section of the Guangdong to Shaanxi national highway crosses the Jialing River, the Southern Metropolis Daily newspaper reported.  It said the Guangyuan government had dispatched an emergency task force to handle the pollution in the river.  "After the incident, we reported it and went to the scene to deal with the problem," an official on the Guangyuan municipal environmental testing team said on Wednesday.  "After we took samples from the water, they were tested at the municipal testing station," he said. "There were no abnormalities in the water."  But he added that the water had shown some changes following the spill.  "At the time there probably was some [acidity] in the water, but after a couple of days, and once it was cleaned up, then it was fine," he said.  But a professor of environment and resources at Beijing's University of Technology told overseas media that the ecological damage from the spill was likely to be severe, as the acidity in the water would still be above normal levels, affecting the habitat for most species.  "Aquatic life can't exist under such conditions of acidity," the professor said. "We can definitely expect that this will cause a high degree of die-off among aquatic life."  The Guangyuan environmental official said a report had been released, but that it said the water quality was within the normal range.

‘Normal' readings
Zhejiang-based environmental campaigner Chen Faqing told RFA's Mandarin service that he had encountered similar situations in his work.  "In situations where there is clearly pollution, the test results from environmental protection agencies show a normal reading," he said.  "The environmental agencies alone get to say whether the water quality is good or bad," he said.  Chen said the authorities usually handled such incidents by partially admitting the truth.  "In cases where it's bad, they will say it's not too bad, and in cases where it's disastrous, they will admit there are some problems with water quality," he said.  "They are afraid that if they tell it like it is, they will cause panic in the local population."  Residents of Guangyuan said in interviews on Wednesday that they hadn't heard anything about the pollution in the Jialing River, the main water source for many households.  "We didn't know about this," said one resident. "Maybe they reported it but we didn't know because we didn't pay attention."  A second resident said he hadn't heard of any problems either.  "I don't know about this," he said. "I didn't pay attention [to the news] so I didn't hear about this."

Roads were opened and an evacuation order was lifted early Monday after crews cleaned up a 12-car train derailment in Burleson County along Texas 36.  Joe Faust, a spokesman for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, said a cause for the derailment has not been identified but is under investigation.   No one was injured in the accident, which left four cars derailed upright and eight on their sides, he said. The train had one conductor and two engineers aboard at the time, according to the sheriff's department.  One of the upright cars was carrying sulfuric acid -- a highly corrosive and colorless acid -- which is why county officials ordered a temporary evacuation and closed Texas 36 from 8 p.m. Sunday night until 2 a.m. Monday, Faust said.   The railway bridge over the highway was reopened for service at 1 p.m., Faust said.

A truck-trailer unit carrying sulphuric acid had a close call at Mount Maunganui early this morning when it almost tipped over.  Mount Maunganui, Greerton and Tauranga Fire Brigades responded to the call at Totara Street around 4.20am, where a truck unit carrying the dangerous chemical was found balancing on its stays.  Mount Maunganui Station Officer Peter Clark says the trailer could easily have tipped over.  “The unit was partially dislodged. A crane had to be brought in to lift the trailer back onto another truck.“The driver was driving easily and noticed something wasn’t quite right. It was lucky it wasn’t more serious.”

WorkSafeNB is investigating an incident at the Irving Oil refinery last week where some workers were exposed to acid fumes.  The incident happened last Wednesday at the refinery's sulfuric acid regeneration plant, which was shut down for maintenance.  Dino Scichilone, the assistant regional director for WorkSafeNB, said a vacuum truck was pumping water out of a concrete pit at about 3 p.m. when some workers in the area smelled some fumes.  Scichilone said the area was evacuated and 35 workers were sent to the onsite health unit.  He said three of them required first aid treatment, including oxygen.  However, none of the workers were treated in hospital.   But Scichilone said it appears some residual acid fumes escaped from the pump truck's tank.  Carolyn Van der Veen, an Irving Oil Ltd. official, said in an email that two employees in the direct vicinity of the truck "noticed some discomfort."  She said "all employees have been cleared with no adverse effects reported."  Van der Veen said "mitigation steps have been taken" to avoid another incident but it's unclear what those include.

Four people were killed and another was injured in a traffic accident that occurred in Southwest China's Guizhou province on Tuesday, according to local authorities.  The accident took place around 7 am on a highway linking the cities of Yuping and Tongren. A truck loaded with sulfur dioxide collided head-on with a motorcycle and subsequently crashed into a nearby hill, local authorities said.  Both of the people riding the motorcycle, as well as two passengers in the truck, died at the scene. The collision resulted in a sulfur dioxide spill that is still being cleaned up.   Traffic had yet to be resumed as of 10 am Tuesday. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

Fifty-six-year-old Nick Ciffolilli and three other employees suffered serious burns after a sulphuric acid pipe burst in February last year.  The company was fined $90,000 in Perth Magistrate’s Court last week after pleading guilty to charges related to the acid spill.  Mr Ciffolili said he had no hard feelings against the company where he has been employed for 32 years.  “I am most certainly happy to be back at work,” he said.   Mr Ciffolilli returned to work as a shift supervisor with the company last April.   He was given time off to rehabilitate and was transported to Perth for treatment.   The Department of Mines and Petroleum investigated the incident and safety director Philip Hine said it could have been prevented if adequate safety measures were in place.   Mr Hine said the incident was the result of inadequate inspection of the recently replaced sulphuric acid pipe work system.  “This decision sends an important message to employers about their obligation to thoroughly inspect all systems of work to ensure safety, particularly when making changes,” Mr Hine said.  “A problem was detected with the system that indicated acid was not flowing into the finishing tanks.   “Three staff went to identify the cause of the problem when a valve failed and sprayed them with concentrated sulphuric acid.”  Two employees were severely burned and one had to have a leg amputated.  Mr Hine said the department investigation showed the valve that failed was designed to carry 40 per cent sulphuric acid but it was exposed to 98 per cent.  An inspection by the company failed to identify that the valve had not been replaced.  Company site director Simon Morten said the company had upgraded its maintenance and auditing functions.  “Three of the workers have returned to work and the company continues to support all of them in their rehabilitation,” Mr Morten said.  He said the court had acknowledged the company’s exemplary safety record and that it had done everything reasonably expected in response to the incident.

Claiming he was doused with liquid sulphur while working at a Texas City plant last month, Santa Fe resident Alan Snyder has filed a lawsuit against his employer.   Snyder's suit against Gulf Sulphur Services alleges a supervisor ignored the his pleas to shut down a malfunctioning unit at the facility. According to the original complaint filed Aug. 22 in Galveston County District Court, Snyder was doused with chemicals when the unit spewed its contents.  The plant's owner and operator, Savage Services Corp., is not a defendant in the case.  Snyder, an independent contractor, was in the midst of his sixth day working at the premises on July 8 when the incident occurred.  According to the suit, "It was apparently common knowledge that many of the plant units that handled liquid sulphur had been out of service, and the plaintiff became concerned when the unit on which he was working was not operating properly."   The plaintiff claims he tried to address the concern only to be told to continue working.  "Suddenly and without warning, liquid sulphur sprayed from the unit and splashed onto the plaintiff's face, arms, body and leg," the suit states.   Snyder claims his skin continued to burn as he sought relief, and he had to be sent to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for treatment.  Consequently, the plaintiff seeks unspecified monetary damages.  He is represented by Abraham, Watkins, Nichols Sorrels, Agosto & Friend.  The case has been assigned to Galveston County 212th District Court Judge Susan Criss.  Case No. 11-cv-1353

A man has suffered acid burns in an incident at a sugar factory in Norfolk.  East Anglian Air Ambulance said it was called to the Wissington plant, near Downham Market,on Tuesday morning.  The man in his 40s suffered sulphuric acid burns to his neck, chest and hands, it added. He was taken to the Broomfield Hospital in Essex.   Paramedic Jemma Varela said the situation would have been far worse had the man not been wearing protective clothing.

State Police shut down part of I-70 in Hancock County on Monday after they stopped a semi that was leaking sulfuric acid.   The right lane of eastbound I-70 and the Ind. 9 exit ramp were closed after officers stopped the truck about 4:40 p.m., Indiana State Police said.  Hazardous material crews were on the scene. The left lane remained open, but police said traffic may be stopped while the cleanup continues.  Westbound traffic was not affected.

Freeport-McMoRan Morenci Inc. has agreed to a $150,000 settlement for releasing 168,000 gallons of sulfuric acid and heavy metals from a pipeline into Lower Chase Creek, a tributary of the San Francisco River. This is according to a statement  released last week by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona General’s Office.  According to the AQEQ  Freeport-McMoRan will pay a $75,000 penalty and complete a supplemental environmental project valued at $75,000 as part of a consent judgment in Maricopa County Superior Court for water quality violations caused by the Oct. 30, 2008, spill from its Morenci copper mine in Greenlee County.

West bound I-44 was closed for most of Friday night while a Hazmat team cleaned up an acid spill in the Sullivan area.  A truck carrying sulfuric acid was leaking and pulled over by Sullivan police.  One officer suffered breathing problems and was taken to a hospital, but police tell KMOX he has been taken off of a breathing apparatus and is doing well.

A sulfuric acid leak leads to evacuations at a plant in Oakley. Fire crews were called to Cast-Fab Technologies on Forrer Street just before seven Monday evening. Investigators say an employee was working on a 5,000 gallon tank that holds sulfuric acid when a pipe broke.  Firefighters had to put on protective suits to go into the building. District Fire Chief Anson Turley described the scene this way,"By the time they got in level A and got into the building they had the leak plugged within 7 minutes. About 1,000 gallons of acid did leak out before we could complete the process."   Power was shut off to the building because sulfuric acid is flammable. Hazardous materials crews were able to patch the leak. It is up to the company to complete the cleanup process.  Workers do metal casting and fabrication at the plant.

Cleanup crews will be back on the scene this morning after a semi crash led to a sulfuric acid leak Wednesday afternoon in Jackson County.  According to the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, a semi hauling containers of sulfuric acid and caustic soda crashed shortly before 4 p.m. on Hwy. 121 near NW Burnette Road in the town of Garden Valley.  Units from the Alma Center Fire Department, Alma Center First Responders, Black River Falls Fire Department and EMS, Jackson County Sheriff's Department and Wisconsin State Patrol responded to the scene along with Jackson County and Eau Claire hazmat teams.  The driver of the semi was transported to Black River Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released.  Hwy. 121 was closed to traffic until approximately 1:40 a.m. today as the scene was cleaned up and the semi removed.  With cleanup crews returning today, any unnecessary travel in the area is discouraged, according to the sheriff's department.

Two workers at the DuPont Co. plant in Belle were transported to a hospital Tuesday after sulfuric acid sprayed from a hose during the demolition of the facility's sulfuric acid production unit, officials said.  DuPont spokesman Nate Pepper said the incident occurred at about 1:12 p.m., while contractors working for DuPont were using a hose to transfer material from a tank into a pump truck came out of the tank.   "The two contractors were showered and transported by ambulance to the hospital," Pepper said in a prepared statement. "One employee was transported for treatment and the other transported for precautionary purposes."  Tuesday's incident occurred as Kanawha Valley residents wait for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board to release a report it has completed on a series of leaks at the Belle plant in January 2010, including a phosgene release that killed longtime plant employee Danny Fish.  CSB investigators have completed a draft of the report, and DuPont has been allowed to review a copy of the report. But so far, board members have not agreed on a plan for releasing the document to the public.  C.W. Sigman, deputy emergency services director for Kanawha County, said emergency officials were told a hose came loose and acid was released while contractors were working to tear down the acid-production unit.  DuPont officials called Kanawha County's Metro 911 office at 1:12 p.m., saying that two males had been exposed to some sort of toxic material. The company did not initially report the material involved, but asked for medical assistance, officials said.  Six minutes later, at 1:18 p.m., DuPont called Metro 911 again to report that the workers were being treated in decontamination showers.

Mississippi River traffic is shut down for a five-mile stretch in Baton Rouge after four barges came loose Friday afternoon, with one of them striking another barge and the other three sinking.  The Coast Guard has halted traffic until they can locate the sunken barges and make sure navigation is safe.  A 195-foot vessel, the Crimson Gem, lost four of its 20 barges, all of which were carrying grain. One of them struck another barge that was moored at a dock near the US 190 bridge. That barge was holding sulfuric acid.  Officials said there were no injuries and that none of the chemicals spilled.  “We did thorough checks on the void spaces to insure that either water or sulfuric acid was not being accumulated,” said Tom Dodds, the operations manager of Rhodia Plant. “We’ve done all the checks and we had the Coast Guard double check to make sure there was no leakage.”  The biggest concern now stems from the three other barges that got loose and sank.  “The river will remain closed until the location of all the barges have been confirmed and a safe, navigable waterway has been established,” said Lt. Commander Quincy Davis of the Coast Guard.  It’s the second time in a week that barges have gotten loose near the 190 bridge. The area has been tagged as a high risk area for navigation, and historic river conditions have forced heightened restrictions.  Commander Davis said with the investigation in its early stages, the Coast Guard isn’t sure if any of the heightened restrictions were not followed.

A hazardous material team was called to the GenOn power plant in Alexandria Wednesday morning.   Fire officials said that a 5,000 gallon tank of sulfuric acid had sprung a leak.   The acid spilled out into a collection pan directly below the tank, so that the spill was contained.  In total, 1,300 gallons of acid ran out of the tank into the pan.  Alexandria fire officials said that the leak posed no threat to the public, because the acid was not fuming into the air.  Streets surrounding the plant, located on the Potomac River, had initially been closed, but by sunrise all roads were reopened.   According to the plant, the acid tank is used to recycle waste produced by the coal-burning power generating facility.  A private contractor was on the way Wednesday morning to collect the spilled acid.

Numerous area fire companies spent more than 12 hours on the scene of a hazardous material spill on the campus of Universal Concrete Saturday after crews initially responding to a fire learned a bin containing a sulfuric acid mixture melted and leaked.  According to township Fire Marshal David B. Matyasovsky, the 200 gallons in the bin was 30 percent sulfuric acid diluted, however, it spilled over a 60-by-60-foot area inside Inno Chem Inc., in the 400 block of Old Reading Pike.  “It’s watered down,” Matyasovsky said of the sulfuric acid mixture.  He explained that the leak occurred after a fire broke out in a piece of equipment inside Inno Chem Inc., where metal is processed to separate the salvageable metal from scrap. The fire melted a container in which the sulfuric acid mixture was stored, and the mixture leaked.  Although the mixture was diluted, Matyasovsky said precautions were taken and Montgomery County Hazmat was called in.   Matyasovsky said no injuries had been reported among any of the responders Saturday, however, some of the equipment brought in by the responding crews was damaged.   “Anything that (the acid mixture) touches, you throw away, and the fire companies lost a lot of equipment,” Matyasovsky said. “All their turnout gear, the hoses ... I know West End (Fire Company of Stowe) lost at least five sets of new gear.”

Sunday's train derailment east of Port Hope, Ont., could have unleashed a "perfect storm" due to the hazardous materials being transported, a firefighter said.  The 12:15 p.m. derailment just east of Port Hope, 109 kilometres east of Toronto, sparked an evacuation order that affected about two dozen homes in a rural area. Train cars involved in the derailment include one containing propane, two with aviation fuel, one carrying residual sulphuric acid and two with residual petroleum. As well, a natural gas line was reportedly ruptured.  At least one tanker could be seen burning approximately a half-kilometre away and sparked a grass fire.  Flames were still coming from the area late Sunday.   Port Hope Police Const. John Oosterhof was one of the first on the scene.   "There were flames and smoke visible from the wreckage and tanker cars were stacked up like Lincoln logs," he said.  Police from Cobourg, Ont., Port Hope and Northumberland OPP immediately tried to keep people away from the area and shut down the highway.  "It was difficult getting the message across to people they were in the blast area should one or more of those tanks explode," Oosterhof said.   Provincial police officers from Peterborough, Whitby also responded, as did investigators from CN Rail, CN Hazmat (hazardous materials) Team, the ministry of environment, the provincial police aviation Unit and members of the forensic identification unit.  Ontario fire departments from Baltimore, Harwood, Bewdley, Port Hope and Cobourg were involved in the emergency along with numerous paramedics.   Emergency Management Ontario recommended evacuated residents quickly select basic clothing, medication, toiletry supplies, pets and other essentials for several days' absence.  Oosterhof said arriving on the scene was "quite startling."   "I know if I can see it I'm too close and being within a few hundred metres of it was pretty scary," he said.  At the time of the derailment, people had been working in the field near a backhoe just metres away from where the wreckage landed.  

The red alert issued Sunday afternoon by Emergency Management Ontario due to the train derailment and fire in Hamilton Township, near Port Hope, has now ended.  An 800-metre evacuation zone remains in place around the site.   Highway 2 is closed between Hamilton Road and Augustine Road and motorists are asked to avoid the area due to a large number of emergency vehicles in the vicinity.   Emergency responders are on scene and clean-up efforts are expected to continue into Monday.  Emergency Management Ontario, the Ontario Provincial Police and the Ministry of the Environment are in the area and are assisting with the response.

Investigations are being carried out into a sulphuric acid spill at Rio Tinto’s Yarwun alumina refinery.  According to the Gladstone Observer, the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) is taking action after a reported spill of 25 000 litres of sulphuric acid from the refinery on Sunday.  The acid spill occurred during heavy rain, with most of it washed into the on-site storm water catchment system and into Boat Creek.  To date, DERM has found no evidence of environmental damage caused by the spill.  Rain and high tides have apparently diluted the acid.   According to Rio Tinto’s early investigation, only 3000 litres of acid was spilled into the process area.  “The vast majority of this was contained on site and only a small amount of sulphuric acid and sea water mix was released into the creek,” a Rio Tinto spokesperson told the Observer.  A faulty drain valve believed to be the cause of the spill was immediately removed and will remain out of operation until investigations have finished.

Several businesses and homes were temporarily evacuated in Slaton on Wednesday because of a chemical spill at the Slaton Rail Park.  The regional hazmat crew was called out around 3:15 p.m. after a bystander saw a rail car leaking a fluid, which crews identified as sulfuric acid.  Slaton Fire Department and Police also responded to the spill where rail road authorities estimate about 50 gallons of sulfuric acid leaked. The rail car is capable of carrying 90,000 pounds, but hazmat crews quickly contained the leak and residents were allowed back in the their homes.  Rail road hazmat crews from Amarillo also inspected the leak and are taking any necessary precautions to fix the rail car or tracks.  Slaton Fire Chief Freddie Rainwater says the leak could have been caused by a pop-off valve getting too hot with pressure expanding the valve.  This acid is found in car batteries as well as oil refining and waste water processing, but can cause lung damage if inhaled and can burn the eyes and skin.

Workers had to be evacuated from a factory in Co Clare early yesterday after 250 litres of sulphuric acid were accidentally spilled inside the plant.  The alarm was raised at about 6.30am when staff reported the spill in a storage area at the rear of an Essilor Ireland plant on the outskirts of Ennis.  The company, known as Organic Lens Manufacturing, produces ophthalmic corrective lenses and is located in the Gort Road industrial estate where it employs more than 300 workers.  About 50 staff were working at the time and they were quickly evacuated to emergency meeting points outside the plant where management carried out a roll call to ensure that everyone was accounted for. The company’s emergency response team was deployed pending arrival of the emergency services.   Within minutes, gardaí and four units of the fire brigade from Ennis arrived at the scene, while medical emergency services were also alerted. No medical assistance was required and ambulances were stood down. No one was injured or affected by the fumes.   The company notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) of the incident and an inspector from the authority arrived at the scene at about 10.30am where she met fire officers and received a briefing about the spillage.  It is understood that two drums containing sulphuric acid fell from a pallet while they were being moved within the plant. One of the 250-litre drums was full and burst open after hitting the ground.   Assistant chief fire officer for Co Clare Denis O’Connell said: “On arrival at the site, the factory had been evacuated and the Essilor emergency response team had already been deployed. It was a relatively small spillage but due to the nature of the substance, sulphuric acid, all chemical procedures were put in place and all firefighters wore full chemical suits before entering the building.  “There was a risk area established in the vicinity of the spill and so the only people allowed inside that area were emergency services.”  The EPA said: “The incident involved a spill of 98 per cent sulphuric acid within a building at the facility.  “An EPA inspector has visited the site to assess the situation and has liaised with the environmental manager on-site, and the fire service. The EPA inspector has verified that the spillage was contained within a building at the facility.  “The EPA considers that the spillage has been contained with no resulting off-site impact of environmental significance,” the agency added.

The gas emitted from a leakage in a tanker carrying sulphuric acid led to the death of a 22-year-old woman in Jajmau area on Tuesday evening. The woman, Shabina alias Shabbu, was found dead in the bathroom of her house, which was near the spot of the mishap.   Three other residents — Ruksana, Salim and Gafoor — who fell unconscious were rushed to Nasir Hospital. They are reportedly stable now.  To minimize the impact of the leakage, water was sprayed on the spillage and Kanpur Nagar Nigam teams sprinkled lime-salt in the area.  Additional District Magistrate (City) Shailendra Kumar Singh, said: “After the tanker carrying sulphuric acid broke down near Siddhnath Ghat of Jajmau, a crane was called to shift it to one side of the road. However, a part of the tanker got damaged and the acid fell on the road and trickled into the nearby sewer line connecting several houses of the vicinity.” Singh said the gas emitted by sulphuric acid suffocated Shabina and she died inside the bathroom. An ex-gratia would be given to the family members of Shabina, he said.  Additional SP (Kanpur) Kush Har Saurabh said: “It appears the sulphuric acid was being taken to one of the leather units of Jajmau area.”  Shabina’s brother Arshad said while other family members rushed out when gas entered the house through sewer line, her sister who had gone to the bathroom to wash clothes could not.

A day after 40,000 litres of sulphuric acid spilled from a tanker onto the road in Dada Miyan Ki Mazar locality in Jajmau area, the local residents still complained of breathlessness and bouts of vomiting on Wednesday. It may be mentioned here that a 20-year-old girl, Shabeena, had died in the incident and several others got fainted on Tuesday evening.  People said they were facing problems in breathing due to fumes emanating from the spilled acid.  Several people, including housewives and elderly persons, visited hospital for treatment on Wednesday.  Some of the affected persons - Zafar, Yaseen Ahmed, Yasmin Fatima and Israr Husain - were discharged after treatment.  Presently, six persons are still undergoing treatment for respiratory problems, said Dr Nasir who was attending to patients at a nearby private nursing home.  "As patients inhaled the acid fumes, they developed breathlessness and are facing burning sensation in eyes, on face and hands," said another doctor.  ADM (city) Shailendra Singh had visited the affected area on Tuesday late night.  He said that a probe would be conducted in the acid spill incident.   Deceased Shabeena, daughter of Mubeen Ahmed, had got recently engaged and was to get married in two months, said the kin of the victim while recounting the incident.   "My daughter was busy doing household chores. All of a sudden, she started coughing. We opened our window only to see locals running all around, gasping for breath," said Mubeen, the father of Shabeena.  He added, "There was no time to think. We ran out of the house but my daughter collapsed. The scene in the entire locality was chaotic. Even walking four steps left us breathless and we got bouts of vomiting."

The district administration on Wednesday provided Rs 20,000 as immediate compensation to the family of the girl, Shabeena, who had died after inhaling sulphuric acid vapours on Tuesday in the city.  Additional district magistrate (city) Shailendra Kumar Singh said, "The district administration has provided immediate monetary compensation to Shabeena's family. The district officials have written a letter to the state government for providing more monetary help."  He added that a monetary compensation would also be demanded from the owner of the tanker from which the acid had leaked. The three persons who fell ill after the incident have been discharged from the hospital, he said.   The mishap occurred on Tuesday when acid leaking from a stationary tanker mixed with the discharge flowing in a nearby drain.  The vapours which spread through the toilets in the locality diffused into the air and residents rushed out of their houses due to strong foul odour with many complaining dizziness and nausea.  Shabeena died and three others fell ill after inhaling the poisonous vapours. The police have been deployed in Chakeri to control any untoward incident after locals created a furore after the incident, said SP (city) Kushar Saurabh.  The driver and the cleaner of the tanker are absconding and a search is on to catch them, he added.

At least 10 Metropolitan Fire Brigade units were called to contain a chemical spill at a North Sunshine industrial site last Friday.  The units were called to Air Liquide's Bunnett Street site at 8.56am to deal with sulphur dioxide spilling from a 15-tonne tank. An MFB spokesman said the spill was brought under control within two hours. "A sulphur dioxide spill on a wet day is taken very seriously indeed," he said.  Inhaling sulphur dioxide has been associated with increased respiratory symptoms and disease, breathing difficulty and, in extreme cases, death.  Hazmat units attended and air quality was tested to ensure employees and surrounding businesses and residents were safe. "We don't believe it was a major airborne hazard that required a mass evacuation," the spokesman said.  The remaining sulphur dioxide was transferred to another tank. No injuries were reported. Air Liquide did not reply before the Weekly went to print.

Emergency crews showed up at a chemical spill in the Manly area late this morning.  The Worth County sheriff says they learned a train car was spilling sulfuric acid around 11.   He says some of the chemical did get on the ground.  He didn't know how much spilled, though he said it was a smaller amount.  They did bring in hazmat to check things out.  “It's not a huge concern at this point in time, we do have hazmat that's up here that's checking it out and that and they're getting it taken care of,” said Sheriff Jay Langenbau. “We don't have to evacuate anybody at this time or anything, it's not that big of a problem at this point in time.”

A large 100 meter-long barge carrying sulphuric acid capsized and went adrift on the Rhine. The accident occurred this morning near the legendary Loreley Rock in the vicinity of the town of St. Goarshausen when, due to unknown causes, the large barge carrying 2400 tons of sulphuric acid capsized. Two of the four crew members have been rescued while there is an ongoing "feverish" search for the other missing crew members with the help of a helicopter.  The ship was traveling from the chemical company BASF, Ludwigshafen in southern Germany to Antwerp, Belgium.  Local authorities said they did not know what caused the tanker to capsize. With the water temperature hovering around 4 degrees Celsius (39 degress Fahrenheit), the missing men could not be expected to survive long, they said. The two rescued crew members were brought to a nearby hospital and were in good condition, local authorities said.   There were no indications that the ship was leaking, and testing on the Rhine downstream showed no abnormalities,  The spokesman added that the vessel appeared to be double-hulled, meaning there stood a good chance the acid would not leak into the river. Sulfuric acid, when mixed with water, can become highly corrosive.

January 21, 2011 - The river Rhine in central Germany has been partially reopened to shipping after being blocked by a capsized tanker loaded with sulphuric acid, the German inland navigation authority said on Thursday.  A vessel carrying 2,400 tonnes of acid capsized on Jan. 13 at Loreley near Wiesbaden blocking shipping since.   The river has now been opened to southbound sailings by vessels of up to 135 metres in length following test sailings past the capsized ship, a navigation authority spokesman said.   About 20 vessels have now been able to sail past the capsized tanker and about 200 ships are waiting to pass, he said.  It was not known when northbound sailings could start, he said.  Cranes have now arrived and salvage work is getting underway, while no significant volumes of cargo have escaped from the ship, he said.  The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities including grain, minerals, coal and oil products including heating oil. It is also a major route for Switzerland's commodity imports.   The ship was carrying acid for German chemical company BASF from its works in Ludwigshafen in Germany to the Belgian port of Antwerp.  BASF said on Thursday it was experiencing difficulties with raw material supplies following the tanker accident.

Shell Canada has confirmed a vessel at its Shantz sulphur plant caught fire and exploded Friday.  No injuries were reported in the incident near Caroline, Alta.  "We had afire and a tank at our Shantz (sulphur forming) facility that we had a problem with on Friday," said spokeswoman Alice Murray."   The incident is under investigation. The tank had an unknown volume of sulphur in it.  Shell is Canada's largest producer of sulphur. A byproduct of sour natural gas, the highly flammable substance is used to produce fertilizer, chemicals and other products.

A stretch of I-25 in Denver has reopened after a truck leaked sulfuric acid on the highway.  The Denver Post reported that a tractor-trailer leaked about 250 gallons of sulfuric acid as it drove along the highway.  Other drivers reported it.  Some of the acid, which is highly corrosive, got into nearby drains.  Firefighters created dams around the spillways to try to prevent more acid from flowing into the drains.  Denver Fire spokesman Phil Champagne said some vehicles drove through the spill and the acid may corrode them.  The spill closed northbound I-25 at South University Boulevard for about 10 1/2 hours.

Staff were evacuated after a chemical spill at a North Wales factory.  A quantity of two types of acids came together in a designated area.  No one was hurt.   The incident happened at Gardner Aerospace plant on Hawarden Business Park in Flintshire and was reported at 9.39am.  Fire crews in protective, green chemical suits from Deeside, Mold and Wrexham rushed to the factory, which makes aeroplane parts.  A North Wales fire and rescue service spokeswoman said: “500 litres of sulphuric acid and chromic acid came out of containers into a bunded, metal, treatment area. They were not supposed to be together. There was a standard mobilisation of the fire and rescue service.”   She added there had been fears the acids could have entered the water supply.   Environment Agency Wales officials were alerted but those fears turned out to be unfounded.  The fire and rescue service spokeswoman said firefighters dealt with the initial situation but it was the responsibility of the company to deal with clearing up the spillage.  No-one from Gardner Aerospace was available to comment.

A busy motorway was closed down for several hours this morning (Fri) after a lorry transporting a dangerous substance came off the road.  The 54-year-old driver of the Hungarian truck carrying sulphuric acid was uninjured when the vehicle overturned and landed on the embankment at around 5.30am on the A4 eastern motorway. The man may fallen asleep behind the wheel, police have said.  Fire-fighters managed to pump off around 20 litres of the leaked substance. The incident caused long tailbacks, and authorities stressed substantial damage to the environment could not be ruled out.  The A4 is a key route in the Vienna area since it connects the city to rural Burgenland, a region from which thousands of people commute to the capital. The motorway is also the quickest way to get to the Vienna International Airport (VIA) and Hungary.

Last Wednesday the city’s contingency plans were put to the test when emergency services were forced to clear the structure for about an hour to clean a sulphuric acid spill.   Metropolitan Fire Service (MFS) station officer Darren McNamee said the spill was a hassle for many, both locals and the huge numbers of people who travel through the city.    However he added the whole incident could have been avoided if cars did not drive through the puddle of sulphuric acid and track it onto the bridge.  The incident was originally sparked by the spillage of 40 to 60 litres of sulphuric acid just after 1pm on Wednesday from a tanker on the intersections of Flinders Terrace and Victoria Parade, and the Eyre and Stuart highways.  Later, plans to close the bridge were delayed when another spill was discovered 15 kilometres north along the Stuart Highway and another fire vehicle had to be sent for across the main bridge.  Local police, the Country Fire Service, MFS and State Emergency Service were involved in the clean up.   The Environment Protection Authority and local officials are conducting enquiries into the spill.  The acid spills were the second incident of this type in the past month. They were neutralised using soda ash and hosed down with water.

A chemical cloud that formed over a Scarborough factory on Wednesday morning has started to dissipate, Toronto police say.  Residents in the area were advised to remain indoors after Chemtura Canada — located at 10 Chemical Court, in the area of Lawrence Avenue and Morningside Avenue — notified authorities of a chemical leak.  But Constable Wendy Drummond says firefighters have capped the leak, and the sulfuric acid cloud that formed is dissipating thanks to the weather.  “We are still advising people to shelter in place until we can confirm that there is no longer a danger,” she said.  The leaked chemical is highly corrosive and toxic, Const. Drummond said, citing unconfirmed reports that one delivery person had been affected. The chemical produces a burning sensation and is accompanied by a sulfuric smell.  Police asked residents in the area to close their windows and air ventilation systems, while local schools were cautioned to keep children indoors.  Police received a call from the factory shortly after 11 a.m., and the cloud took about an hour to start dispersing.   Const. Drummond said while the event is not typical, police have attended similar calls in other areas of the city.

Update - Two weeks after a Scarborough chemical plant released a cloud of sulfuric acid and a neighbourhood warning system was activated there are no clear answers on what caused the spill or what must be done to prevent a similar accident.   Ontario's environment ministry is still waiting for the company, Chemtura Canada, to finish investigating the Nov. 3 spill but the company has shut down the part of its plant where the chemical leak occurred until the source of the problem is found, said Kate Jordan, a ministry spokesperson.  The province's labour ministry said its own accident investigation continues.  Chemtura is part of the Toronto East CAER (Community Awareness and Emergency Response) network, which maintains and tests sirens to warn residents of the Manse Valley area between Morningside Avenue and Highland Creek to seek shelter indoors during a dangerous event.  Sirens did sound on Nov. 3, but some residents complained the warning came nearly an hour after the spill.  Such concerns could be brought to a community meeting of the CAER network, but the last such meeting was on Oct. 19 and they are usually held every six months.  Member companies of the network are, however, scheduled to meet privately on Dec. 8 with government and emergency services representatives.  This week, Al Deli, a spokesperson for the network, predicted members will urge Chemtura to release more information on the accident to the community.  The network's community advisory panel, which serves as a liaison between the companies and residents, is expected to meet sometime in early 2011.

December 3, 2010 - Chemtura Canada released a cloud of acid mist from its West Hill plant on Nov. 3 after contractors removing scaffolding from a room tripped an electrical breaker, the company and Ontario's environment ministry now agree.   That morning's error caused a pump to shut off, which allowed an oil-based feedstock to back up and mix with fuming sulfuric acid.    A computer monitoring system meant to detect this failed to shut down the system, a ministry spokesperson said last week releasing results of the company's investigation of the accident.  Kate Jordan added the company would install back flow valves and examine its monitoring system to prevent a similar problem.  "We're satisfied with the work they have done and the improvements they've committed to," she said. "There wasn't any impact to the community."  Some residents, however, remain concerned.  Ron Moeser, the local city councillor, said he wants to ask Chemtura officials what other steps can be taken and "to get as many details as possible on a range of possibilities."  He will get his chance, possibly missing part of a Scarborough Community Council meeting next Wednesday, Dec. 8, when members of the Toronto East CAER (Community Awareness and Emergency Response) network meet in private with emergency services representatives.  Companies in the network run a warning system to alert residents of the Manse Valley area when an accident takes place. On Nov. 3, however, it was not Chemtura but the city's fire department that contacted the ministry and determined the siren should be sounded.  Moeser said he wants an explanation of who made the decision to sound the alarm - the first time this has happened during an actual emergency - and why.  "The process (leading to such decisions) has to be reviewed," he said, adding he will ask nearby residents if they heard the alarm and whether they know what is expected of them when it sounds.  The network's community advisory panel is expected to meet in early 2011, and a community meeting would normally follow in the spring.  Ontario's labour ministry is continuing its own investigation of the Nov. 3 incident.

The trouble for metal giant Sterlite at its copper plant in Thoothukudi compounded on Wednesday after a contract worker died of acid burn injuries on Wednesday morning.  S. Muthukrishnan, 24, driver of a tanker lorry that carried sulphuric acid from the harbour to the Sterlite Industries’ copper smelter unit, suffered acid burns inside the plant premises on September 18.  According to officials at the Sipcot police station, Muthukrishnan was standing on the tanker while the acid was being unloaded. They said he accidentally fell on the acid that had spilled on the ground, suffering fatal injuries.  Environmental activists and politicians, including CPI state assistant secretary C. Mahendran, who have been campaigning against the Sterlite unit over allegations of damaging local environment, raked up the issue leading to a controversy on Wednesday, which was accentuated by a seemingly hasty post-mortem analysis done early in the morning.  Relatives of the worker refused to receive the body from the medical college hospital there and staged a protest, which was withdrawn only after senior police officials who rushed to the spot promised to conduct a proper inquiry and take action against anyone found responsible.   Sterlite was in the news recently after the Madras High Court came down on it for polluting the environment and directed it to close the plant, an order that was stayed by the Supreme Court.  However, despite the legal breather, the company is still facing the ire of activists and local public who have continued their campaign against the copper smelting unit.

A tractor-trailer carrying corrosive items created a hazardous material incident on Monday at around 8:15 a.m. on Olde Scotland Road at Exit 24 of I-81.  Before the area was cleaned up, about 275 gallons of acid flowed out of the trailer. Fire Chief Mark Cleck of the West End Fire and Rescue Company said that the initial call was reported as a sulfuric acid leak, which was reported by several passing motorists and the driver of the tractor-trailer. Cleck said that the tractor-trailer was pulled off to the side of the roadway, with the operator out of the vehicle, and he could see a liquid flowing out of the rear of the truck onto the ground when he arrived on the scene.  Traffic was stopped in both directions on Olde Scotland Road, at Woods Road and Mt. Rock Road, and the northbound exit ramp at Exit 24 was also shut down, keeping motorists away from the scene. A nearby business was also shut down.  Cleck said that the tractor-trailer was hauling several different types of corrosive items, one of which was sulfuric acid, according to the paperwork the operator had in his possession. The operator said that most of it was stored in 13 totes at 275 gallons each. The operator said that while he was driving his load shifted, causing a breakage and spill.  Hazardous Material Teams from both Franklin and Cumberland Counties responded to the scene, along with additional fire apparatus for the water and extra manpower. Trained personnel then suited up in protective gear and air packs, preparing to walk near the tractor-trailer for observation. A decontamination wash was se tup for the team for when they finished.  The scene was deemed safe, and the trained personnel returned back. A hazardous material cleanup team was already on the scene, and was given the okay to make the proper cleanup.  Chief Cleck couldn't confirm exactly what type of corrosive acid spilled, only that it was no longer a threat to the area. Cleck said that there were about 75 personnel on the scene, which included firefighters, EMS, hazardous material teams, hazard material staff, fire police, state police and PennDOT officials. Units began clearing the scene at around 12:15 p.m.  Chief Cleck said that he was grateful to the Shippensburg Pizza Hut, McDonalds and Papa John's for donating food to everyone that was on the scene.

The northbound exit and entrance ramps of Interstate 81 at Exit 24 are closed this morning because of a possible sulfuric acid spill.  State police and fire personnel are currently investigating the incident at the intersection of Pa. 696 (Olde Scotland Road) and I-81.  A PennDOT spokesman said emergency dispatchers were notified this morning of a spill at the exit, and a placard on the truck indicated the truck was carrying sulfuric acid.  I-81 remains open in both directions. Pa. 696 is closed at the bridge.  PennDOT spokesman Greg Penny said it's too early to say how much damage was caused by the spill.  The Franklin County Department of Emergency Services said it will release information on the incident.

Exit 24 of northbound Interstate 81 in Franklin County, Pa., was closed for about five hours Monday after a tractor-trailer’s load shifted and caused hazardous material to leak on the ground, a Pennsylvania State Police spokesman said.  The tractor-trailer contained 20,000 pounds of sulfuric acid, according to the Franklin County Department of Emergency Services.  The incident, which occurred at about 8 a.m., prompted officials to close the portion of Pa. 696 from I-81 to Woods Road, police said.  Crews were on the scene until 1:08 p.m., according to the Department of Emergency Services.

Department of Environmental Quality inspectors are investigating a Valero Energy Corp. leak in a transfer line that released about 1,000 pound of sulfuric acid into the Mississippi River, a DEQ spokesman confirmed Friday.  The leak happened at its Norco St. Charles refinery Thursday.  The leak was on a transfer pump while transferring sulfuric acid from a storage tank to a process unit. The amount leaked is approximately 65 gallons, or just more than one drum, and it occurred over 80 minutes.  DEQ spokesman Tim Beckstrom said a department scientist investigating the incident does not see a public safety concern with the leak.  "Acids such as sulfuric are capable of being neutralized quite quickly, given the PH," said DEQ spokesman Tim Beckstrom. "The leak occurred over 80 minutes, so it was not a sudden large surge, but more like a gallon per minute."

An unknown amount of sulfur leaked into the Corpus Christi Inner Harbor as it was being pumped from Flint Hills Refinery to a docked barge Thursday afternoon, officials said.  Company spokeswoman Katie Stavinoha said the amount of the spill had not been measured after the 1 p.m. equipment failure, but she believed it to be a small amount.  Sulfur is a byproduct of the crude oil refining process that is moved through a pipeline to a nearby dock where it is pumped through a hose onto waiting barges and sold as an export, Stavinoha said. The leak came from the hose.  The Refinery Terminal Fire Company was called and put up booms around the spill to keep it from extending further into open water, she said, and those efforts were successful.   “It was contained very quickly. There was no impact to the public,” she said.  Sulfur can be an irritant in high concentrations but the amount spilled Thursday would not be enough to cause damage or harm, Stavinoha said.  “There is an investigation under way and all appropriate agencies were notified,” she said.

A sulfuric acid spill brought traffic to a halt on parts of Interstate 15 for nearly three hours Wednesday.  Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski SAYS a 55 gallon drum containing the hazardous liquid began leaking from the back of a truck after 4 p.m. Wednesday.  A driver who spotted the leak called 911 to alert authorities.  Firefighters neutralized the acid by using another chemical.   At first, traffic was blocked on both sides of I-515 near East Charleston Boulevard and Las Vegas Boulevard. But officials began allowing some traffic to move as the cleanup got under way.  The entire roadway was reopened about 7 p.m.

Officials are looking into what caused 27 cars of a CXS train to derail in Ravena Monday morning.  They say it happened around 5 a.m. on a single track area in the town of Coeymans.  Police say the cars were carrying diesel fuel and sulfuric acid, however no contents were spilled.  The wreck is however causing some headaches for other trains in the area.  ”This is the main line that runs from NYC to the Selkirk yards, just north of the derailment it opens up to two tracks but unfortunately where it's at is a one track area and all train traffic is currently stopped,” said Coeyman Police   Chief Gregory Darlington.  Crews are hoping to have the tracks cleared up by 9 or 10 p.m. Monday evening.  The cause of the crash remains under investigation.  The last time a train derailed in that area was in the early 1980's.

Tshwane Emergency Services finished cleaning operations near the Fresh Produce Market, west of Pretoria.  The market was closed on Wednesday after a truck carrying sulphuric acid experienced a leak there on Tuesday night.   The liquid is corrosive and toxic if inhaled. Officials evacuated people in a kilometer radius from the vehicle.  Tshwane Emergency Services’ Johan Pieterse said, “The product was classified as sulphuric acid and was evaluated and the fresh produce market as well. We evacuated the area due to the wind direction that was directly behind the fresh produce market.”  The market will resume normal trading on Thursday morning.
The Tshwane Fresh Produce Market, in the west of Pretoria, re-opened for business on Thursday, following a spillage of sulphuric acid from a truck on Tuesday.  The acid has been cleaned up by the Tshwane Fire Brigade Services and, together with the Agriculture and Environmental Management Department, it has declared the area safe.   The market was closed to ensure cars and pedestrians did not step on the acid residue on the piece of road affected or walk into the market and so that there was no inhalation of the gasses from the acid which can have an irritating affect.   "The city would like to dispel rumours about the possibility of the produce having to be destroyed as a result of gasses from the spill," says City of Tshwane spokesperson Console Tleane. He said in fact the acid spill had not affected the produce at all. 

Hazardous materials officials have completed off-loading of sulfuric acid waste from a carrier truck on the Massachusetts Turnpike, but the clean up is scheduled to continue at least until Thursday.  The tanker remains isolated at a service plaza in the Hampden County town of Blandford. The rest stop is expected to be closed at least another day.  State police say the truck contained approximately 40,000 pounds of the waste sulfuric product. Hazmat officials who opened the tanker on Tuesday discovered a rupture of one of its compartments.  Police say there is no danger to the surrounding area. However, the substance poses a threat to those exposed to it.  Police say the truck driver suffered an initial minor exposure and that the leak is limited to the rest area.

The load, being hauled in a truck registered to the Ashland Company, originated at Fort Devens and was bound for Binghamton, N.Y. The company is licensed to haul harmful chemicals.  It contained 40,000 pounds of a sulfuric acid waste product. The load was distributed among 12 to 15 tote containers, each measuring approximately 3,500 pound and 500 gallons. During transit, the load shifted and one of the containers apparently ruptured.  Some two to four of the totes were damaged when the load shifted, Keefe said, adding that only a small amount of acid is believed to have spilled outside the truck. A stainless steel containment system inside the truck caught most of the acid

A 400-gallon container filled with sulfuric acid exploded inside a Newark processing plant today, seriously injuring a nearby employee who was splashed with dangerous chemicals, officials said.  Authorities are still trying to determine what caused the explosion, which forced 60 firefighters and Department of Environmental Protection officials to respond to the bio-diesel fuel processing plant on Passaic Street around 3:40 p.m., according to Newark Fire Chief Michael Lalor.  The victim, who was not identified, suffered third-degree burns to eighteen percent of his body and was taken to Saint Barnabas Medical Center’s burn unit in Livingston with non-life threatening injuries, Lalor said.  The man was apparently connecting hoses to a tanker truck filled with methanol when the acid container burst behind him, according to Lalor.  He said the facility mixes acids and other chemicals to make bio-diesel fuels.  Firefighters and DEP representatives spent nearly 21/2 hours trying to decontaminate the building. Lalor said 100 to 200 gallons of acid spilled and flooded the structure, and hazmat teams weren’t able to fully neutralize the acid in the area until 6:10 p.m.  Methanol and sulfuric acid are flammable substances, according to Lalor, and officials on the scene had to work quickly to close the methanol container after the acid leak, fearing a possible second explosion.  "It has a low flash point, but we wanted to make sure it didn’t ignite at all," Lalor said.   The incident also forced State Police to shut down water traffic in the nearby Passaic River for about an hour, as firefighters worked to dissipate a vapor cloud that was floating toward the river as a result of the acid explosion.

A sulfur dioxide leak from an old refrigerator forced seven people from their Birch Street home Tuesday night.  Two people - a resident and a firefighter - were taken to Manchester Memorial Hospital as a precuation. They were treated and discharged, fire department said, and the four-family house has since been declared safe.  The leak happened about 8:20 p.m. in one of the apartments at 64 Birch St., where a man and woman were cleaning ice out of a very old refrigerator, according to a press release from the town's fire department, Manchester Fire-Rescue-EMS. The refrigerator contained sulfur dioxide, a precursor to Freon, which is a poisonous gas that is severely irritating to the skin, eyes, nose, throat and lungs. The substance was phased out as a refrigerant in the 1960s, the fire department said.  The gas escaped when a refrigerant line inside the freezer was punctured, fire officials said. Some refrigerant was sprayed in the face of a female resident. Both the man and woman, who were exposed to the pungent odor of escaping gas, flushed their faces with water, firefighters said; they and the other five occupants left the apartment and called 911.  A regional hazardous materials team and the state Department of Environmental Protection joined fire crews at the scene. The house was ventilated and the refrigerator removed.

Two employees at a Buckeye chemical plant were taken to a hospital this week after they were burned by sulfuric acid, officials said.  The men were taken Tuesday from the Thatcher Company chemical plant to the burn unit at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix in stable condition, Buckeye Fire Chief Bob Costello said. They had "at least second-degree burns" on their heads and faces.  Plant manager Philip Belden said the men were released from the hospital about two hours later.  Firefighters responded to the chemical plant at 6321 N. Rainbow Road about 11:15 a.m., Costello said.   Belden said the incident is under investigation. The men were repairing a sulfuric-acid pipeline when the acid spilled. The men had been working on the pipes for two days "so they had several pieces of it apart and had been replacing parts," Belden said.  The employees were wearing full protective equipment, including Gore-Tex acid suits, rubber boots and gloves, hardhats, face shields and goggles, according to safety protocols, Belden said. They had completed extensive safety training in accordance with company standards.  The employees followed the standard protocol for spills, he said, which prioritizes helping the injured employee.  "Protocol is obviously different depending on the situation, but your standard protocol is obviously first aid," Belden said. "If it's beyond the ability of plant personnel, then it goes out to a 911 call."  Belden would not say what other procedures and standards the company has in place to protect employees.  Belden said Tuesday's incident was the first chemical spill at the plant in the three years he has worked there.   "We do our best to make sure that this place is safe with all the safety precautions, engineering controls, training procedures," Belden said.   "This was something that certainly is not commonplace. . . . so we'll have an investigation into it and make sure that we do corrective measures to make sure this type of incident doesn't happen again."  Ten people work at the Buckeye plant. Thatcher Company is a chemical manufacturing and distributing company based in Salt Lake City, according to the company's website. It employs more than 250 people in eight states.

A sulfuric acid spill closed one westbound lane on U.S. 30 through Monday evening's commute.  About 55 gallons of the acid leaked out of a tractor-trailer traveling from KCI Chemical in Kingsbury in LaPorte County to Wisconsin.   A container holding the chemical had fallen over in the truck, as did another container of phosphoric acid that leaked a lesser amount of that corrosive.  A Valparaiso police officer pulled the truck over after noticing the leak about 1:30 p.m.   The driver, according to some accounts, noticed the problem first after hearing a crash inside his trailer, opened the back door and inhaled fumes.  He was taken to Porter hospital for observation, although officials didn't know if he'd been admitted.   "He got a good whiff," said Greg Eckhardt, deputy director of Environmental Operations for Porter County.  Eckhardt, who was the hazmat worker on the scene, compared the inhalation to using strong cleaning chemicals in a small room.   No one else was hurt, and Eckhardt said that as long as no one touched it directly, the acid wasn't a threat.  There was no cloud or major fume collection from the chemical.  A clean-up contractor was expected to remove all the truck's chemicals and neutralize the acid with a strong base, such as baking soda.  Some of the topsoil that the acid leaked onto would also be removed.  The Valparaiso officer first noticed the leak near the intersection of U.S. 30 and Indiana 2 and pulled the truck over west of Marsh Street, Senior State Trooper Tom Quinn said.  Quinn couldn't speculate how long the materials had been leaking, but state police planned to inspect the truck for any violations. "We know right away there's going to be a securement violation on the load," Quinn said, referring to the tipped drums on board.

Potentially dangerous chemical fumes at the Lucite International plant near Millington led to the evacuation of businesses and residences along Highway 51 and Fite Road Tuesday morning.   The Lucite plant, which is next to the Dupont plant, started fuming a vapor mix of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide, which reacts with moisture in the air to create a dense sulfuric acid mist. Sulfur trioxide can be harmful if ingested or inhaled, and can also cause skin and severe eye irritation on contact.  Plant spokesman Tom Eubanks said there was not a chemical leak, but referred to the situation as "a fuming condition" as the sulfuric acid regeneration plant was started up.  The Shelby County Fire Department and HAZMAT teams were called in to assist.  Several businesses along Highway 51 between Fite Road and the Loosahatchie River in about a one mile radius were evacuated until emergency crews safely cleared the scene.  Steve Shular, a spokesman for the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, said 30-40 people in the immediate area were affected by the evacuation.  No injuries have been reported.

Investigations are under way after an estimated 200 pounds of the acid rain-producing gas sulfur trioxide leaked into the air Tuesday at the BASF plant near Palmyra.  There were no injuries and no immediate environmental impact was detected.  Initial company tests showed the chemical was contained to the sprawling site along Missouri Highway 168 near the Mississippi River.  The leak took place in an isolated part of the plant. It was detected about 7 a.m. and lasted until 10 a.m. Only 25 of the more than 300 employees were evacuated. As a precaution, barge traffic was suspended until 1:05 p.m.  Plant Manager Michael McFarlane said that the leak “more than likely” resulted from a mechanical failure, but added that at least a dozen BASF personnel would be searching for what went wrong using data that records glitches in the system and how to prevent it from happening again.  State investigators also were going to test for environmental damage and look at whether regulatory action was needed.  “It’s too early to say if there’s anything that needs to be remediated,” said Judd Slivka of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.  “We work hand-in-hand with regulators to make sure we do everything we need to do,” McFarlane said.  Winds may have blown some of the gas toward Illinois, but Adams County Emergency Management Director John Simon in Quincy had received no reports of problems and a spokesman for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said no testing was planned.  “Our understanding is the plume dissipated pretty rapidly,” Slivka said. “If it had to happen, the weather was perfect for it. There was a light wind and no rain.”  Sulfur trioxide is a precursor to sulfuric acid, which BASF uses to make herbicides. It is one of the most massively produced chemicals in America, and is a component in acid rain.   The chemical is caustic and can cause respiratory problems. When sulfur trioxide is exposed to air, it rapidly takes up water and gives off white fumes. If it combines with water, it releases considerable heat while forming sulfuric acid.  McFarlane said production of sulfur trioxide would be halted until the internal review was completed. He said the plant’s emergency precautions worked well.  “The people on site are trained to handle this type of thing,” McFarlane said. “Everybody moved into action pretty quickly. Everything was done by the book. Above all, we’re glad everybody’s safe.”  If investigators find that the plant exceeded its permitted level of sulfur trioxide, the state could fine BASF. The allowable level for BASF is 2,000 parts per million in a three-hour period, according to the state.  The release was the second reported by BASF in the last 10 months. In May 2009, an apparent failure during an incinerator test led to the discharge of the anti-corrosion chemical hexavalent chromium into the river.  Slivka said the Department of Natural Resources is seeking “enforcement action” against BASF because of the incident, but declined to discuss specifics because the case remains open

Bapco has admitted a spillage caused by the loading and transportation of sulphur from its refinery in Askar to the Khalifa Bin Salman Port in Hidd.  A company spokesman said Bapco was aware of a small spill, which occurred outside of residential areas.   However, he said that irrespective of the quantity, Bapco was further reviewing the operation and would put in place measures to avoid it happening again.  Bapco also thanked Muharraq Municipal Council technical committee chairman Ali Al Muqla, who directed them to the incident, for his concern for the safety of the public.  'We assure Al Muqla that the company is concerned about the safety and well-being of anyone who interacts with it, whether a member of the public, a contractor or employee,' said the spokesman.  'The company encourages people to report any safety or environmental concern they may have directly to the management, which would immediately take action.

No chemicals have spilled from a train derailment on Detroit’s west side, according to the Detroit Fire Department Hazardous Materials Unit.  The unit was sent to the tracks at Joy and Freeland roads after at least two cars carrying sodium nitrate and sulfuric acid jumped the track at 11:33 a.m., Detroit Fire Department Capt. Gerod Funderburg said. No one was injured in the derailment.

Area firefighters and a county decontamination team were sent to an RIDC Park company Friday at about 8 a.m. for a leaking tanker.  O'Hara police Superintendent James Farringer said hot, liquid sulfur was leaking from a tanker that arrived sometime Thursday at Sauereisen Inc. at 160 Gamma Drive.  The company manufactures specialized acid- and temperature-resistant adhesives, sealants and cements.  "No one has been evacuated and no one is hurt," Farringer said.  Allegheny County 911 dispatched Highland Hose of Tarentum and other Alle-Kiski firefighters with special hazardous materials handling equipment to assist.  The units formed a convoy to reach the industrial park.  Sauereisen Vice President Carl Sauereisen said the leak was contained and was being dealt with.  "Molten sulfur solidifies almost immediately (when it comes in contact with air), especially in these temperatures," Sauereisen said.  He said the tanker, which doesn't belong to the company, leaked in a contained area and Sauereisen employees were able to continue work in the plant.   The solid sulfur was to be taken away when it cools, he said.  Molten sulfur can be used in a process to test the strength of concrete mixes. It also can be used as a bonding mortar on utility poles.  Sauereisen employs about 38 people.  The company was founded in 1899 to make cements used in high-temperature, corrosive or acidic situations.  The company continues to develop new products and ships many of them overseas, Sauereisen said.

The Ohio State Patrol said traffic resumed to normal around 2 a.m. on Interstate 75 after an acid leak shut down the highway for nearly 12 hours.  It took about 10 yours for police, fire and hazmat crews to clean up the sulfuric acid spill that shut down the highway in Harrison Township and prompted an evacuation.  Lt Bill Peck said, “He thought he had a flat tire and then realized he had spillage in the trailer.”  The driver of the semi pulled over near Needmore Road as he headed north. Then, clouds of vapor started to appear.  Police and fire crews quickly realized that they had an acid spill and were forced to shut down the highway. Then, they called in the Dayton Regional Hazardous Materials team.  The driver told authorities that he was hauling three different kinds of acid in the truck. The acids had already been used in an industrial process and were headed for proper disposal.  According to the driver, there were 40-50 containers in the trailer, some of them 55-gallon drums. Others were 250 plastic containers known as totes.  As night fell, workers suited up in Level A hazmat suits, which provides the biggest protection available and went into the trailer.  The hazmat crew identified the problem as a leaking tote that had spilled much of its 250 gallons of used sulfuric acid. They were able to neutralize the material that had spilled on the ground, putting an end to the vapors that can cause nose, eye, throat and lung irritation.  The decision was then made to take the trailer slowly up to an exit ramp, transfer the other barrels and totes and take them back to the plant in West Carrollton, where the came from.  Each container will have to be decontaminated and then reloaded on another truck for disposal. Workers will look at the plastic container that leaked.  A hazmat supervisor told News Center 7 what the plastic container was made of. Denny Bristow said, “Polyvinyl, polyethylene-type container. It’s very thick-walled. It’s not like a gallon milk jug. It’s a very thick plastic.”  Officials said the truck left the Veolia plant in West Carrollton with the used and contaminated acids and were headed for a disposal site in Michigan near the Detroit area.  Troopers said they do not anticipate that the driver will face any charges.  Firefighters did evacuate Northridge High School and Timberlane Elementary as a precaution, but there were no reports of any injuries.
Technical Solutions said it will re-evaluate its procedures following an acid spill Wednesday, Jan. 20, that shut down traffic on I-75 in both directions for hours.   Denny Bristow, coordinator or the Dayton Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team, said Thursday that the spill was caused when a valve from one container cracked another container in the back of the tractor-trailer rig.  Curtis Mabry, spokesman for Veolia, said the containers of waste acids were loaded and packaged in accordance with Department of Transportation guidelines, but a review of procedures could result in changes companywide. Bristow said investigators consider the spill an accident. He did not expect any fines or citations would be issued.
The spill involved a 300-gallon container of sulfuric acid on a truck loaded with hydrochloric, sulfuric and phosphoric acids. A cloud from the spill drifted across I-75 from east to west, causing a potential health hazard. About 50 employees of a nearby aerospace company’s plant were evacuated for safety reasons.

It could have been a major event earlier this morning no the 401 between Belleville and Trenton.
A tanker truck carrying sulphuric acid caught fire around 6 on the 401 westbound…east of the Glen Miller Road.  Fortunately, the fire started on the trucks tires, and Quinte West firefighters from Tuckers Corners had the flames out before they could effect the tank’s contents. Meanwhile..be warned….traffic is slow on the 401 westbound between Belleville and Trenton, as only one lane is open as crews continue to clean up the accident scene.

A big rig wreck blocked a freeway connector ramp in southeast Houston for hours Thursday afternoon.   The crash happened on the ramp connecting the Gulf Freeway inbound to the eastbound loop at about 11am. Crews were being cautious with the accident because according to a placard on the tanker truck, it was hauling sulfuric acid. Thankfully none of the liquid spilled.  Firefighters had to pull the pinned driver out of the truck. He didn't appear to be seriously injured

Firefighters were called to contain a sulfuric acid spill at the Darigold plant.  At about 3 p.m. an employee noticed the smell and realized an acid spill had occurred at the plant, 8424 Depot Road. Lynden Fire Department crews arrived to find about 15 to 20 gallons of sulfuric acid spilled out of one of the plant's warehouses, said Chief Gary Baar.  A cracked pipe or valve had led to the spill, which seeped out of the warehouse and onto the road. The spill was caught and contained with sandbags before any acid got into the city's sewer or stormwater drains.  No one was injured in the spill, and there was no threat to neighboring businesses, Baar said.  Local Darigold representatives did not return calls about the spill. According to the Darigold Web site, the Lynden plant was built in the 1920s and has been producing dried-milk products since the 1970s.

The cars and transport vehicles plying between Dutywa and Mthatha on the N2 freeway were compelled to take a different route after an incident of toxic spillage. A part of the road was closed after a truck carrying large amount of sulfuric acid developed a leak. The incident took place in the wee hours of the morning. Tshepo Machaea, the Arrive Alive provincial spokesperson said that the acid was highly corrosive. It could pose serious threat tote cars and motorists had they come close to it. The administration did not want to take any chances after 4 vehicles plying on the road after the spillage took place got damaged. In fact several parts of those vehicles were damaged along with the tyres. Later mechanics were called to help out the drivers.

The acid got spilled over 4 km on the road. Even the grass at the roadside started changing color, such was the strength of the acid. Around 15 cleaners were deployed in the area to make the road usable again. They used a material known as road lime to neutralize the acid. Tshepo Machaea said that at least one lane of the road can be opened to traffic and the motorists would be able to use it. Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela, a police spokesperson said that people living in adjacent areas were told to keep their kids away to avoid any mishap.
The residents were also advised to keep their pest away from the road. Luckily the spillage did not cause any injury or accident as it was spotted early. By the end of Saturday the cleaning is likely to be over.

A mining accident nearly took the life of a valley man Saturday.  A worker fell into some sulfuric acid while working in Globe.  The man was hit in the chest by a 500-pound pipe, and fell backwards into a tank of sulfuric acid used to clean metals.  The unidentified worker fell backward into runoff from a leaching operation that contained a very low amount of sulfuric acid. The man was airlifted to Maricopa Medical Center, and while being transported, the flight crew complained of burns to their hands.  About 20 firefighters set up a hazardous materials unit at the hospital when the medical helicopter landed.  "We're monitoring not only the situation and the byproducts of that chemical, but we are also watching the staff as they treat this patient," says Phoenix Fire Dept. Capt. Jonathan Jacobs.  They were able to contain the hazardous material, and the victim remains in critical condition.

A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying sulfuric acid derailed early Sunday morning in Gilbert.  The incident prompted authorities to issue voluntary evacuations in the surrounding area.  Around 5:10 a.m. Sunday, the Norfolk Southern freight train left the tracks near Isiah Hall Road and Hayes Crossing Road.  Officials say the train had two locomotives and ten cars.  Eight of the ten cars derailed.  Six rolled on their side, including a tanker full of sulfuric acid.  Railroad officials say the train was going from Linwood, North Carolina to Savannah, Georgia. There were no injuries reported.  "The concern that we have is the integrity of the tank itself. It's a double-walled tanker," says Thom Berry, a spokesperson for the State Department of Health and Environmental Control. "There are some creases on the outside of the tank and so far it hasn't leaked."  After visual and thermal inspections, no leaks were detected on the overturned tanker. He says that the car is back on the track and will be headed to the Norfolk Southern rail yard sometime this morning. 

One person died and 37 others sustained injuries after a trailer loaded with Sulphuric acid collided with a bus in Salgaa along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway.  The two vehicles were reduced to shells after they caught fire on impact.  According to Nakuru Provincial General Hospital Superintendent George Muganya, 27 people sustained minor injuries while 9 suffered chemical burns. Three of the survivors are in critical condition

About 3 tons of concentrated sulfuric acid leaked from a truck on Thursday morning in Pingdu City, Shandong Province, after a crash involving a bus and a tricycle. The truck, carrying 18 tons of the chemical, rolled over in the collision at a junction at about 5am, Qingdao Morning News reported yesterday. Six people were injured by either the crash or the acid, the report said. Firefighters took about six hours to clean sulfuric acid from the road and neutralize and dilute 2 tons of the chemical which had spilled into a nearby construction site.

September 15, 2009

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has served a Breach Notice on the management of Industrial Chemical Company (ICC) Jamaica Limited, in relation to Saturday's (September 12) Sulfuric Acid spill at the company's storage facility close to the Greenwich Town Fishing Village, Marcus Garvey Drive, Kingston.  In a release tonight, NEPA said that, under the terms of the Breach Notice, ICC has 30 days in which to construct a bund (embankment or dyke) at the facility. Additionally, the Agency says it will be taking further action against ICC, under the Natural Resources Conservation Act and the Wildlife Protection Act.  NEPA, in partnership with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), the Jamaica Fire Brigade and the Marine Police has all but completed its investigations into the spill, which has affected residents and fishing in and around the fishing village, which borders West Kingston and South West St. Andrew.  "Tests have shown that the pH level of the ambient water quality in the area is returning to normal. Both surface water and water taken from a depth of three metres were tested by NEPA's laboratory staff," the NEPA release said.  "There are still residues of the acid in the soil, along the path the material took to the sea. There is a concern that a period of heavy rain could wash out the sediment into the marine environment. If there is no rainfall in the area, the land is expected to be rehabilitated within the next four weeks. However, NEPA is unable to say whether such a washout will have any significant impact on the marine environment.  "Based on laboratory tests, there is no evidence to prevent the resumption of all activities in and around the area affected by the acid spill. ICC is expected to submit a report to NEPA by Tuesday, September 15, 2009."   NEPA also reported that it has convened a four-member team to complete a quick-scan of the coastline along the Kingston Harbour, to identify those enterprises which conduct trade in hazardous substances. Once the scan is completed, the enterprises will be directed to apply for permits for the relevant activities.

July 28, 2009

Management at DuPont Co.'s chemical plant in Belle waited more than two days before reporting a toxic material leak to state and local authorities last week, government and company officials confirmed Tuesday.  The leak of sulfur trioxide started at 11 a.m. on July 22, but was not reported to the state until 4:36 p.m. on July 24, according to state Environmental Protection and Homeland Security officials.  No injuries were reported, and DuPont officials described the leak as a minor incident.   "It was essentially a non-event when you get right down to it," said DuPont Plant Manager Bill Menke. "Normally, we wouldn't have said anything."

The leak occurred in a sulfuric acid production unit that was the subject of a major federal enforcement action. In April, DuPont agreed to pay $2 million in fines for not upgrading pollution-control technology when the company added equipment to increase production.   Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said he was shocked that DuPont did not report the incident, especially given the public furor over Bayer CropScience's withholding of information about the fatal explosion and fire at its Institute plant in August 2008.   Initially, DuPont officials estimated the leak at 300 to 400 pounds of sulfur trioxide. Federal law requires companies to immediately notify federal, state and local officials of leaks of 100 pounds or more of sulfur trioxide.  Menke said the company later downgraded its estimate of the leak's size to about 18 pounds -- an amount that would not kick in the required notifications to government agencies.

Last week's incident occurred in the Belle plant's "SAR" unit, where sulfuric acid is produced by burning spent sulfuric acid to form sulfur dioxide. The sulfur dioxide is then converted to sulfur trioxide, and then to sulfuric acid.  The unit had recently been shut down, and had just started back up when a two- to three-inch hole was discovered in a duct on the unit when workers saw "puffs" of sulfur trioxide coming out of it. "It was puffing intermittently," Menke said.  Company officials attached an "elephant trunk" hose to capture the leaking material and funnel it back into the SAR unit, Menke said. The goal was to control the leak until the unit could be shut down for repairs, he said.

But the shutdown didn't occur for 18 hours. And, Menke said, it is unlikely that the "elephant trunk" caught all of the sulfur trioxide that may have leaked from the hole.  "Did the elephant trunk capture 100 percent of that material? The answer is likely not," Menke said.  Menke said that it was not safe to shut down the unit right away for repairs.  "It takes a little time to actually de-pressure and turn it down," Menke said. "There would have been production to be sure we had the facility in line."  Menke said he was personally aware of the incident the day it began, but did not think to call government authorities.  After the unit was shut down, Menke said, a plant environmental official asked for a calculation of the size of the leak.  That produced the initial estimate of 300 to 400 pounds, Menke said.  Based on those figures, DuPont then notified state and local authorities late in the afternoon on July 24, a Friday. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials said that neither they nor the National Response Center were notified.  DuPont officials quickly realized that estimate did not take into account any material captured by the "elephant trunk." A rough recalculation then produced the 18-pound estimate, Menke said. So, they called back state and local officials with the lower estimate, he said.  Jesse Adkins, assistant chief for enforcement at the Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Air Quality, said his agency is waiting for a written report from DuPont before considering further action.

June 17, 2009

A chemical leak at Vale Inco smelter facility in Copper Cliff, Ont., near Sudbury, has been downgraded to a Level 1 emergency, which means the incident did not have any impact off-site and there is no threat to the environment or to the general public.  The leak has been stopped and isolated to one area in the facility, according to Ontario's Ministry of Environment spokesperson Kate Jordan. A chemical called Oleum, similar to sulphuric an acid, was leaking.  In response to the leak, Inco initiated an emergency response protocol shortly before noon Monday.  A bulletin, alerting area residents to stay indoors and to turn off furnaces and air conditioners was sent to residents living near the plant.  Staff at the Ministry of Environment are on standby, waiting for the area to be declared safe.

June 3, 2010 - The Colombo High Court today imposed a fine Rs 10 million on a captain of a Turkish vessel for releasing sulphuric acid into the territorial waters of Sri Lanka in Trincomalee.   Senior State Counsel Riaz Hamza appearing on behalf of the State complained that the accused Sir Sidath, the Captain of the vessel "M T Grand of Turkey" had released the hazardous chemical into the Sri Lanka Waters from April 5 to 9, 2009.   The Accused pleaded guilty for the charge and consequently the High Court imposed a fine of Rs 10 million on the captain of the vessel.  In default of the payment of the fine, the accused was sentenced to one year imprisonment.

Sri Lanka government is to take legal action against the Turkey Shipping Company, the owners of the sunken tanker with a load of sulphuric acid off Trincomalee Harbour.  Ranjith Kularatne, Chairman of the Marine Environmental Protection Authority said the legal action would be taken due to the marine pollution caused by the sulphuric acid leaked to the sea from the tanker. Necessary reports are being compiled in this regard, he said.   According to the Marine Environmental Protection Authority the ship, 'MV Grand Bar' finally sank 90 nautical miles off Trincomalee after the Navy managed to tow the vessel to the deep sea.  The Navy confirmed that it went down at a depth of 3,000 meters of the sea.  The tanker carrying 6,250 metric tons of sulphuric acid was plying from Tuticorin to Kakinadan in India when it developed troubles on Monday, April 6. The ship's crew of 19 had been rescued by the Sri Lanka Navy after the ship was crippled 8 kms off Foul Point in Trincomalee. Naval personnel boarded the tanker found that its cargo tanks were damaged and the Sulphuric Acid was leaking into the ballast tanks.

The 19-member crew of the Turkish tanker that sank off Sri Lanka is to return to Turkey next week.  The Turkish Transportation Ministry said that the crew would depart Sri Lanka for Turkey on April 14, news agency reports said.  The Turkish-flagged chemical tanker had been abandoned by its crew off the eastern Sri Lankan port of Trincomalee after its cargo of sulphuric acid began leaking last weekend.  Later the Navy and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority vessels towed the tanker further out onto the high seas to prevent marine pollution near the coast.   The tanker sank totally 50 miles off Trincomalee port on Wednesday midnight.

The crew of a Turkish tanker that sunk off Sri Lanka will return to Turkey next week, officials of the Turkish Transportation Ministry said on Friday.  Nineteen crew members of a Turkish-flagged tanker that sunk off Sri Lanka the previous day would depart Sri Lanka for Turkey on April 14, the officials were quoted by the semi-official Anatolia news agency.  A Turkish-flagged chemical tanker "GRANBA" started to sink off Sri Lanka on Monday after the sulfuric acid it was carrying melted the tanks.  Sri Lankan authorities evacuated Turkish crew members from the tanker, and the crew were in stable condition and staying at a hotel near the port.  The tanker totally sank 50 miles off Trincomalee port the previous day.

The Detroit Fire Department is overseeing a chemical spill clean-up after an undetermined amount of sulfur dioxide leaked from a railroad car today in southwest Detroit.  The 10:30 a.m. leak happened at a city wastewater treatment plant, 9300 W. Jefferson, just west of Zug Island, Detroit Fire spokeswoman Katrina Butler said.  “The railcar had a leak in it,” Butler said. “How it happened, they don’t know. It didn’t hit anything.”  The leak was so small the city’s health department, which responds to incidents that could affect the health of area residents, was not involved, she added.  The car was carrying about 90 tons of sulfur dioxide, but it was unclear how much leaked out, Butler said. A professional chemical handling company was overseeing the transfer of the remaining sulfur dioxide to another railcar this afternoon, she said.

Eight cars from a Union Pacific freight train derailed early Saturday near West Rialto Avenue and South Macy Street in San Bernardino.  The 12:30 a.m. incident involved three box cars carrying soda ash and five tanker cars that previously carried sulfuric acid, San Bernardino Fire Department spokesman Steve Tracy said by phone.  "It was an interesting call with a large potential for hazards, but fortunately it was a low-speed derailment, so we really lucked out," Tracy said. "I can assure you not at any time were any residents in danger."  Two containers of soda ash spilled during the derailment as the train traveled northeast, Union Pacific spokeswoman Zoe Richmond said by phone. Soda ash is used in making soap powders, glass and paper.  The track is near a BNSF Railway line used by Metrolink.  None of the double-walled freight cars were breached, Tracy said. The rail line has an estimated 200-foot right of way, with homes and mobile homes nearby.  The train cars were marked with placards indicating the nature of the loads, and fire officials were able to quickly find out details from Union Pacific.  "They let us know those sulfuric acid cars were empty," Tracy said, with at most a residual of 10 to 15 gallons each.  There also is a Kinder Morgan fuel-transport pipeline adjacent to the railroad. Union Pacific contacted Kinder Morgan, and the line was shut down as a precaution, Tracy said.  The train cars stretched from Mill Street on the north to about a quarter-mile south of Rialto Avenue.   Union Pacific's Richmond said the 80-car train was 4,461-feet long.  The cleanup was expected to be finished Saturday afternoon.

An 18-wheeler loaded with sulfuric acid overturned at approximately 8:30 a.m. Monday on U.S. 63 near Old Union, spilling several hundred gallons of the hazardous chemical onto the westbound shoulder of the highway, according to the Union County Office of Emergency Management. The truck, owned by the Groendyke Transport Co., was traveling eastbound at the time of the accident. The driver was taken to the Medical Center of South Arkansas in El Dorado for non-life threatening injuries.

A tanker truck carrying sulphuric acid has rolled off the Bruce Highway in central Queensland forcing emergency crews to impose a 250m exclusion zone to contain leaking acid.  It is understood both tanks on the B-double tanker were leaking and that the truck came to rest beside the road in long grass.  Emergency services have evacuated the area on the Bruce Highway north of Bloomsbury, which includes a couple of farmhouses, due to inhalation concerns.  Firefighters from Mackay and Proserpine were on the scene and attempting to contain the leaks.  The truck driver, who was out of the vehicle when emergency crews arrived, was taken to Proserpine Hospital with minor injuries.  Paramedics remained on standby at the incident.

Two people were killed and four others were injured in an explosion that sank two ships, causing one to leak concentrated sulfuric acid at a dock yesterday in Hangzhou City, capital of Zhejiang Province.  Environmental protection workers are trying to clean up the acid leak as one of the ships was transporting 250 tons of the chemical, Xinhua news agency reported today.  The explosion occurred on a docked ship about 7:50am in Tangqi Township, Yuhang District. The blast caused it and a nearby ship loaded with acid to sink, the report said.  Nearby residents and factory workers were evacuated to safety yesterday.  Maritime affairs authorities are investigating the cause of the explosion.  The dock was shut yesterday afternoon after the explosion and the priority is to clean up the concentrated sulfuric acid as quickly as possible,’’ Chen Guoqing, vice director of Yuhang District Transport Bureau, told Xinhua.  We will also salvage the sunken ships.  Yuhang District Environment Protection Office officials said they had used liquid caustic soda to neutralize the polluted water and were monitoring neighboring waterways.  As of 11pm last night, the water quality on the whole was normal,’’ they were quoted as saying.  Though the water around the explosion site is still partially acidic.  The two who died were on the ship that exploded while the injured were on ships nearby. Three of the injured are being treated at Yuhang District Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital and are in stable condition while the other has already been discharged, the report said.

Fire Service Northern Communications shift manager Colin Underdown said the accident happened on State Highway 12 between Ruawai and Dargaville, about 1 km south of the Tokotoka Tavern, about 6.30am today.  Four pumping appliances and a hazardous materials unit were at the scene as well as members of the Northland Hazardous Substances Technical Liaison Committee.  Mr Underdown said there was no word at this stage about any environmental contamination.  He did not have any information on the dangers involved in such an acid spill on the road.  Sulphuric acid can boil and spit dangerously when added to water.  Sue Phipps from police northern communications said there was a "hell mess all over the road", but also there was no indication that there was any danger to the environment or the road.  Two truck loads of sand and a crane were needed at the scene, she said.  The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries.  Road diversions were in place and it could be a couple of hours before the road was open again.
Emergency services and hazardous chemical experts are unhappy that an Auckland company's specialist recovery unit took eight hours to arrive at a serious acid spill on a Northland road. Northland Regional Council hazardous substances manager Jerry Nelson said he felt the company was "under-prepared" and its response WAS "very slow". The lack of personal protection equipment for its workers was also a concern. "I'm astounded that people would be involved in decanting sulphuric acid without proper equipment ... I will be writing to Jascol regarding the matter," he said.

Two people were injured in a crash involving a pickup and a semi hauling liquid sulfur on the Lewiston Hill Friday afternoon.  It happened at about 1:00 p.m. Idaho State Police said Kurtis Scheffer, 37, of Blaine, WA was southbound in a semi on the inside lane when, William Slemp, 43, of Lewiston came in from behind in a Toyota pickup on the outside lane to pass.  ISP said Slemp looked off to the left and drifted into the driver’s side of the semi. The pickup collided with the first tank on the trailer, and then Slemp jerked the wheel to the left. The vehicle rolled once coming to rest in an upright position.  Slemp and his 12-year-old son were extricated from the pickup and transported to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center. ISP at the scene said both suffered head injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening.  There was minor damage to the semi but no sulfur spilled.

A sulfur dioxide release left 29 workers with injuries this morning.  According to Polk County officials, the leak happened at the Mosaic facility on Highway 60 in Mulberry just before 8 a.m.  A company spokeswoman says the plant routinely admits sulfur dioxide, but weather conditions this morning caused the noxious cloud to hug the ground instead of drifting away.  Sulfur inhalation can cause respiratory problems and nose and throat irritation, and 18 contractors had to be hospitalized with varying degrees of those symptoms.  One person was admitted in serious condition.  As of 9 a.m., the sulfur cloud had dissipated and the scene cleared.

At least 2,500 residents were forced to evacuate after a toxic spill in a chemical plant in western Pennsylvania on Saturday.  A corrosive liquid overflowed from a tank at a chemical plant, evaporating into a dense toxic cloud which moved close to the ground in parts of Petrolia, Pennsylvania.  The liquid known as oleum, which resembles sulphuric acid, leaked from a tank at the Indspec Chemical Corp. plant in Petrolia, said plant manager Dave Dorko.  Authorities evacuated 2,500 people within the spill’s range and took them to shelters in nearby towns.  Three residents were taken to the Butler Memorial Hospital, officials said.  The state Department of Environmental Protection said authorities were concerned about the potential for respiratory damage and skin burns. Red Cross officials said they expected to shelter only 50 to 100 people overnight.

Followup

April 13, 2009 - The manager of a western Pennsylvania chemical plant that had a toxic leak in October says the worker who caused the leak was fired.  Indspec Chemical Corp. Petrolia plant manager Dave Dorko says the company plans to meet with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to work out a settlement. OSHA has proposed fining Indspec more than $120,000 for the leak, which led to an acid cloud and forced 2,500 people from their homes for a day. Dorko says Indspec wants to resolve things with OSHA and move on.

May 20, 2009 - State environmental officials have announced a $34,187 fine against a chemical company for a toxic leak that caused and acid cloud that forced hundreds of western Pennsylvania residents to evacuate.   Indspec Chemical Corp. already faces $121,500 in federal workplace safety fines for the leak at its plant in Petrolia on Oct. 11.  About 3,300 pounds of oleum leaked when a transfer tank overflowed because its internal pumps powered by an electrical outlet without an automatic shut-off. Oleum reacts with the atmosphere and the resulting sulfuric acid cloud forced 2,500 people from their homes for a day.

October 5, 2009 - The U.S. Chemical Safety Board says a pump used without an electrical safety shut off caused an acid cloud that forced hundreds of western Pennsylvania residents to evacuate last year.  Indspec Chemical Corp. faces more than $150,000 in state environmental and federal workplace safety fines for the leak in Petrolia on Oct. 11.   Oleum leaked when a transfer tank overflowed because its pump was connected to an outlet without an automatic shut-off. Oleum forms sulfuric acid when exposed to air and the cloud forced 2,500 people from their homes for a day.  The Chemical Safety Board says workers often used the outlet without the automatic shut-off to save time on weekends, when fewer workers were present.  Dave Dorko, who manages the plant 60 miles north of Pittsburgh, says the offending worker was fired.

Nearby plant workers and residents across the Mississippi River in White Castle sheltered in place Thursday when a valve at the PCS Nitrogen plant in Geismar leaked sulfuric acid, State Police said.  Roads near the plant and in White Castle were blocked for several hours while officials observed the cloud of sulfuric acid vapors produced by the leak, State Police Sgt. Markus Smith said.  The release “didn’t have  a significant impact and there were no reported injuries,” Smith said.  “It sounded worse than it was,” he said.  Nevertheless, the offices of Homeland Security in Ascension and Iberville parishes issued the sheltering in place warnings to plant workers and White Castle residents.  Sheltering in place means people need to stay inside their homes and businesses, turn off their air conditioners and close their doors and windows, said State Police Trooper Russell Graham, public information officer for Troop A.  Law enforcement officers blocked roads in Ascension Parish leading to the plant and in White Castle until the sulfuric acid cloud dissipated, Graham said.  PCS officials reported a weld broke in the storage tank, causing the acid to leak into the atmosphere, Graham said.  “The tank was leaking 30 to 50 gallons a minute,” Graham said. “They have slowed the leak down to about 10 gallons a minute.”  Graham said water trucks sprayed a curtain of water on top of the cloud to keep it down until the emergency was over.   Workers pumped acid out of the leaking, 700-ton capacity tank until it was empty and the emergency was ended, officials said.

An employee working on a filter at Decas Cranberry's water treatment plant was exposed to sulfuric acid Wednesday morning and rushed to the hospital.  At 1 p.m. Wednesday, Decas Cranberry Company President and CEO Jeff Carlson said hazmat officials were still on the scene, but the employee had been treated and released from the hospital "without any permanent injury".  Police received a 911 call at 7:57 a.m. that a chemical spill had occurred at the company.  Carlson estimated between three and five gallons of sulfuric acid, which is used to clean the treatment's filtration system, spilled and affected the employee's eyes.  "We have safety procedures in place and our employees use full equipment when handling anything hazardous," Carlson said.  "The employee was able to get to a nearby wash station and wash his eyes out immediately which is very important. His skin was not burned, but the fumes came in contact with his eyes. After the fire department is done with their work, we'll assess what happened, why it happened and determine if changes need to be made," he said.  The Fire Department said further details would be available after 2 p.m.

About 2,700 litres of sulphuric acid was spilt at the YIT factory in Ylivieska in Finland on Thursday.  Rescuers said the spill had been caused by human error when filling a tanker lorry.  Some of the acid seeped into the storm drain, but factory workers and firefighters managed to stop it from flowing into the town's water supply.  The fire brigade pumped out some of the acid from the ground and the drain and neutralised the rest with cream of lime.

A gas leak at Richmond's wastewater-treatment plant forced an evacuation of the plant at about 7:30 p.m. yesterday and sent seven people to area hospitals as a precaution.  "We're taking this very seriously," said Robert C. Steidel, deputy director of the city's Department of Public Utilities and one of the first people to respond.  Police said 11 people apparently were affected by the leak of sulfur dioxide gas.  The plant south of the James River near Ancarrow's Landing treats up to 70 million gallons of wastewater a day.  Steidel said the four workers who were on duty at the time detected the leak, immediately evacuated the plant and were treated with oxygen.  Sulfur dioxide can be fatal if inhaled in large quantities, according to medical Web sites.  Four people in the area of the landing who apparently had been fishing were treated at the scene and released. Two other bystanders, an ambulance authority worker and the four plant employees were taken to area hospitals to be examined.  Steidel said the gas is piped from railroad tank cars into a chamber within the plant, where it is injected into water. That mixture is then added to wastewater to rid the water of chlorine before it is discharged into the James River.  The leak apparently occurred in the mixing chamber, which automatically becomes sealed off and airtight when a leak occurs. About 8:40 p.m., hazardous-materials teams determined that the leak had ceased and allowed utilities personnel to re-enter.

OAKEY Abattoir's 700 workers were evacuated yesterday after more than 800 litres of sulphuric acid spilt on site.  Emergency service crews, including a 8specialised Hazardous Chemical Unit, responded quickly to the potentially deadly situation after receiving the call at 9.38am.  All roads surrounding the abattoir were blocked.  Luckily, no-one was injured.  Oakey Abattoir plant manager Bob Bradford said the 800 litres of acid had leaked from a tank located outside the rendering building.  Initially, it was feared 2000 litres had been spilt, however Mr Bradford said the tank only held 2000 litres and that it had been in use for quite some time before the accident occurred.  Mr Bradford said the steel tank had a concrete bunded area around it which contained the spill.  "The tank was reasonably new, actually, as we had replaced the old one recently," he said.  "We're in the process of pumping the fluid from the bunded area to other vessels and then once that is done, the tank will be inspected to find out why it had sprung a leak."  The inspection will be carried out today.  Staff was evacuated and kept outside for 50 minutes before returning to "business as usual".  "We haven't evacuated the plant for anything like this before," Mr Bradford said.  "Everything went as planned, the bunded area worked perfectly and we took the right precautions of evacuating people."

August 4, 2008

Valero Energy Corp said production at its 130,000 barrel per day Houston refinery was temporarily reduced after an incident that heavily damaged a sulfur loading tank on Monday morning.  The Houston Fire Department said the tank, which contained sulfur dioxide, ruptured, leading to a shelter-in-place order to nearby residents in Houston's Manchester neighborhood. The shelter order was lifted about two hours after the incident.  A total of five workers -- three contract employees from the refinery and two contractors from nearby facilities -- were taken to hospitals following the incident with breathing problems.  All had been released by mid-afternoon, the company said.  Earlier Valero said four workers were taken to hospitals.  Small homes in the Manchester neighborhood are across local streets from the refinery, which is at the west end of the Houston Ship Channel.  Local television station KHOU-TV showed video of a smoldering tank with a large hole in a portion of its roof at the refinery in a Monday morning news report. Debris could be seen on the ground near the tank.

A tanker loaded with sulfuric acid and bleach burns on US 412 Monday morning. Emergency responders shut down the busy highway both directions while fighting the blaze.  The driver of the truck said he was hauling the chemicals on US 412 near the Keystone Dam, when a tire on his truck blew out.  "I just know that I was suddenly in the rail," he said.  Doug Stevens, the operations manager for the chemical company involved, said bleach could have a reaction to sulfuric acid, but said there was little danger to the firefighters or general public from the smoke released from the fire.  Sand Springs Fire Chief Mark Joslin said there was concern about spraying water on the sulfuric acid. That could produce a violent chemical reaction. That, combined with the potential for runoff of the dangerous chemicals into the lake, played into firefighters' decisions to let the fire burn itself out.  The blaze sparked several grass fires, as well.  Emergency workers shut down US 412 for hours while fighting the blaze. As of press time, there was no word on when it would be re-opened.

One man was injured and dozens of firefighters were tied up for several hours Tuesday after an industrial accident spilled an estimated 40 gallons of sulfuric acid in a Custom Aluminum Products building at 410 Division St.  Capt. Burt Lancaster of the South Elgin & Countryside Fire Protection District said a 58-year-old male employee sustained second-degree burns on his arms when the acid began leaking from a pipe about 10:45 a.m. The man, whose name had not been released, was taken to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where he was reported to be "in good shape," Lancaster said.  Fire Chief Joe Cluchey said that when firefighters arrived, they found employees working to shut off the spill, but "we also noted product still being released from some of the dispensing equipment. Employees confirmed that this product was sulfuric acid."   Cluchey said 15 workers were evacuated from the anodizing factory, which is one of a complex of seven adjoining buildings operated by Custom Aluminum and the affiliated company Casco Industries. However, when testing revealed the outside air was not dangerously contaminated with fumes, work was allowed to continue in the other six buildings.  The chief said Custom Aluminum managers believed they were able to shut down the leak by shutting down an air compressor. But help from six other fire departments was called to get enough trained hazardous-materials technicians to enter the building, make sure the leaking had stopped, and make sure no liquid acid was leaking into any drains or areas outside the building. One crew of technicians entered the factory wearing impermeable plastic suits and positive-pressure breathing gear, while another crew, similarly equipped, waited outside in case anyone in the first crew collapsed.  Misting fans and tent-like shelters were set up to cool off the heavily encumbered technicians as a cloudless sun beat down through the 90-degree air.  About 1 p.m., the spill was declared to be contained, and a crew from Hazchem Environmental Corp., a private cleanup contractor hired by Custom Aluminum, had arrived to remove the acid and complete repairs.  South Elgin firefighters were assisted by technicians, ambulances and/or standby fire engines from the Elgin, West Dundee and Hanover Park fire departments, plus the Hampshire, Pingree Grove & Countryside, and Rutland-Dundee Townships fire protection districts.

July 10, 2008

A roll over accident on an I-75 exit ramp had environmental clean up crews busy this morning.  A semi carry sulfuric acid tipped over when it tried to take the exit ramp from State Route 65 to 75.  A small amount of the acid leaked out in the crash.  The State Highway Patrol says that the ramp had to be closed for a short time so that the spill could be cleaned up, but only a small amount is said to have gotten out.

Firefighters worked yesterday morning to contain a spill of sulfuric acid at the Maryland Chemical Co. on Childs Street in South Baltimore.  A Fire Department spokesman said a contract worker was injured when some of the chemical spilled on his hands.  Chief Kevin Cartwright said the worker, whose age and identity were not available, was taken to a hospital.  He said the man had been trying to repair a 4,000-gallon tank when it ruptured about 9:30 a.m.  Most of the spill was contained by a berm set up for that purpose, and Cartwright said there are "no concerns environmentally."  The Fire Department contained the spill by 11 a.m.

July 2, 2008

A tank carrying approximately 175 gallons of sulfuric acid fell off the back of a semi truck on Highway 54 near Grant Avenue in Portage County this morning.  Authorities closed the highway between Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids to clean up the spill. The road was still closed at noon. Hazardous materials teams from the Whiting Fire Department and Waupaca county were dispatched to the scene.  The tank was laying in the center median of the highway, and some of the acid pooled in a nearby ditch.  According to Lt. Dan Kontos of the Portage County Sheriff’s Department, the truck was leaving the So-White building on 54 when it turned west and the tank fell.  “There was a vapor cloud when I arrived on the scene,” Kontos said. “I could smell it as soon as I got out of my truck.”  Authorities will set up a series of booms and dikes to keep the chemical from penetrating the ground and reaching the ground water. The next step will be to apply soda ash to neutralize then remove the tank, Kontos said.  “Conditions are good right now because the wind is out,” said Plover Fire Chief Tim Kluck. “At this time we aren’t evacuating the nearby businesses.”  The chemical is used to clean concrete and can be harmful if inhaled, Kluck said.
The state Department of Natural Resources, the Portage County Sheriff’s Department, the Plover Police Department and the Wisconsin State Patrol also responded.

March 31, 2011 - A man who alleges he was injured in 2008 by a sulfur-dioxide leak at a sugar beet processing plant in Hillsboro, N.D., wants three companies to be held responsible for his medical expenses and lost wages, according to a suit filed in federal court.  A man who alleges he was injured in 2008 by a sulfur-dioxide leak at a sugar beet processing plant in Hillsboro, N.D., wants three companies to be held responsible for his medical expenses and lost wages, according to a suit filed in federal court.  Conrad Rostvet, 56, of Adams, N.D., is suing American Crystal Sugar Co. of Minnesota, Lock City Transportation Inc. of Michigan and Smart-Hose Technologies Inc. of Pennsylvania.  Rostvet’s suit says he was working as a contractor June 18, 2008, at the beet plant owned by American Crystal. The same day, a truck driver from Lock City Transportation had been hired to pick up sulfur dioxide from the plant, the suit says.  To transfer the sulfur dioxide, the suit says, the truck driver used a hose made by Smart-Hose Technologies. During the transfer, the hose or other parts broke or malfunctioned, releasing sulfur dioxide into the air, the suit alleges.  At the time, Rostvet was working nearby, and he was “significantly and severely injured” by the gas, the suit says.  Sulfur dioxide, which is used to process sugar beets into sugar, is a colorless gas with a strong odor. When inhaled, it can affect the lungs and at high levels may cause “burning of the nose and throat, breathing difficulties and severe airway obstructions,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  According to Rostvet’s suit: Lock City Transportation was negligent in transferring the sulfur dioxide; Smart-Hose Technologies’ hose and equipment were defective; and American Crystal did not properly oversee the transfer.  American Crystal denies Rostvet’s allegations and blames Lock City Transportation for the leak, according to court documents filed last week. Lock City Transportation and Smart-Hose Technologies have not responded to the suit.  In 2008, the Herald reported on the leak which sent 21 people, mostly contractors, to local hospitals. Some complained of respiratory problems caused by the inhalation of sulfur dioxide. The truck driver, who was wearing protective gear, suffered sulfur-dioxide burns on his feet, according to the Traill County Sheriff's Department.   About 225 people, 150 of them American Crystal employees and the rest contractors, were evacuated from the plant, the company said. The leak, which occurred shortly before noon, was contained the same day, and the plant was re-opened that night. Officials said the leak posed no risk to the public.

Kiev, 14 June: Sulphur dioxide leaked out at [chemical plant] Stirol Concern in Horlivka, Donetsk Region, at 0600 [0300 gmt] today during the launch after repairs of a facility to manufacture sulphuric acid, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency has learned from the press service of the territorial directorate of the state mining inspectorate in Donetsk Region.  A chemical cloud covered the territory of the state-owned coal mine Shakhta Oleksandr-Zakhid.  The press service said that 17 mine workers had complained they felt bad and had undergone a medical examination.  A total of 15 mine workers have been diagnosed as having poisoning and admitted to hospital.

Car positioning appears to be what caused a 28-car train derailment in Northfield, according to a railroad official.  “The derailment at Northfield on March 31 was determined to have been caused by the way the various train cars were placed or positioned in the train makeup — the way the loaded cars and empty cars were positioned in the train,” said Mark Davis, spokesman for Union Pacific.  The 104-car train headed southbound on its way to North Platte, Neb., derailed north of Greenvale Avenue around 2 a.m. March 31, causing a tanker to leak about 655 gallons of sulfuric acid. There were no injuries nor evacuations, although Davis said he was checking to see if any residents had filed claims with the railroad of suffering poor health as a result of the derailment.  Other than the tanker that was half full with sulfuric acid and another tanker that held peanut oil, the rest of the train’s cars were either empty or carrying stick lumber, Davis said immediately after the derailment.  Davis said Friday in an e-mail that the railroad is running simulations to determine exactly how the makeup of the cars contributed to the wreck. Once they have that information, Davis said, they’ll review it with all employees to ensure proper loading and empty car placement. Federal law also requires that the railroad file a report on its findings to the Federal Railroad Administration.  “An example of how train makeup can contribute to a derailment — if there are too many empty cars in front of heavy-loaded cars as the train is coming to a stop, the heavy cars’ weight will ‘push’ an empty car off the track,” Davis said.  The FRA’s report on the derailment is pending, according to its Web site. At the time of the derailment, FRA spokesman Steven Kulm said it would be months before its investigators would complete their report.

Chinese tanker truck carrying more than 30 metric tons of sulphuric acid has crashed in southwest China, spilling its load into a river and causing "serious pollution," state media said on Wednesday.  The accident occurred on Tuesday, the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, when the truck ran into the guard rail on a highway linking Anning and Chuxiong in the mountainous province of Yunnan, Xinhua news agency said.  "Some of the sulphuric acid has flown into a roadside river and has caused serious pollution. Many fish were killed," Xinhua said.  No human casualties were reported, but up to 1,000 vehicles were stranded along a section of the highway, it said.  "The government has sent for another truck to load the sulphuric acid still in the truck," Xinhua said. It did not say if the spill had affected any drinking water supplies.

No one was injured when a rail car carrying sulfuric acid came off the tracks at GAC Chemical Corp. and released a small amount of the chemical.  The accident occurred while GAC was taking delivery of four or five carloads of sulfuric acid that came in on the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway. The car derailed due to human error, he said, and came to a rest leaning at a 45-degree angle.   The car's connection to the rest of the train prevented the rail car from tipping completely over.  Once the crane arrived, Dittmeier said the tipped car was hoisted and loaded onto an empty car, so it would remain upright. The process took between two and three hours, he said, to give GAC personnel time to inspect the tracks and rail car for any damages. Dittmeier said there appeared to be no damage to either. Then, the crane was used again to reset the car onto the track.  When the car was being transferred the last time, the repositioning caused it to "burp," according to Dittmeier. This caused about 10 gallons of sulfuric acid to spill onto the top of the railcar, a problem that was easily contained.

Update December 14, 2007 - European Commission's Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) presents experts' report on oil spill in Kerch Strait.  It concluded that the sunken sulphur did not pose an immediate acute risk to the environment but recommended that the sunken ships with sulphur on board be salvaged so that the sulphur can be appropriately processed.

A road train carrying three trailers of sulphuric acid overturned near Hughenden, in central north Queensland.  The Flinders Highway was closed after the eastbound road train crashed about 30km east of Hughenden.  Police said the road train was passing a truck and sedan travelling in the opposite direction when its third trailer veered into a ditch before swerving across the road and overturning.  None of the sulphuric acid was spilt in the accident and there were no other environmental concerns.  No one was injured in the accident.

A woman crashes into a tank causing an acid spill near Taft.  A hazmat crew was called out after the vehicle had put a four inch gash into the side of a tank carrying sulfuric acid.  The acid was coming out at a slow rate, but did cause a small puddle.  Hazmat determined there was no immediate threat so now it's up to the owner of the land to clean up the mess.  Sulfuric acid is often used in water that farmers use to irrigate.

Louisiana Highway 520 in Claiborne Parish was shut down this morning after a truck hauling sulfuric acid wrecked.  The spill occurred about 1 a.m., half a mile south of the Louisiana 161 intersection in the north part of the parish, State Police said.  There were no homes in the immediate vicinity of the wreck and no one was evacuated, State Police said.

A section of U. S. Highway 59 was shut down due to a hazardous chemical spill.  An 18 wheeler that was carrying about 40,000 pounds of sulfur, crashed into a stalled vehicle on US 59 in Timpson around 7:30 p. m. Monday.  The truck caught on fire and spilled its load all over the highway.  The initial danger was pretty high because of the fumes being emitted from the burning sulfur.  A couple of firemen had to be transported to the hospital due to exposure to sulphur dioxide.
 
The fire took more than four hours to put out.  The fire department initially used water on the fire which enhanced the fire.  A hazardous materials team had to use a special foam to get the flames under control.  The crash site was far enough away from homes that no evacuations were needed.

A fire at the J.R. Simplot Co. fertilizer plant at 200 W. 225 S. caused the evacuation of a 1-mile radius around the plant, as a deposit of sulfur was ignited.  The cause of the fire and extent of its damage were unknown.  East End, West End and Rupert fire departments responded to the fire.  About every 15 minutes, firefighters in two-man teams took turns scaling a ladder to reach the fire through a hole in the roof of one of the plant's buildings. By 7 p.m., the fire was mostly under control.

Nine people were treated and released from hospital following a gas leak at an Inco Ltd. acid plant in Greater Sudbury June 15.  Inco spokesperson Cory McPhee said the plant had a power interuption Thursday at 9:30 am which caused the SO2 (sulphur dioxide) leak into the atmosphere.  "Normally the plants shut down, but in this case one of the fans in the booster house kept going so there was gas sent out that shouldn't have been," said McPhee.  The acid plant is located inside Inco's smelter complex and is used to capture SO2 gas that would normally go up the Super Stack, and turn it into sulphuric acid.  Eight contractors and one Inco employee were sent to hospital after being exposed to the sulphur dioxide. Some were sent home for the day while others came back to work. The gas causes irritation in the throat and lungs.  It (gas) just dissipates  . . . they were able to address the problem but why it happened is still under investigation," said McPhee.  Inco has launched an internal investigation into the matter. McPhee said the company will "file a report of an unusual occurrence" to the Ministry of the Environment, which is standard procedure.

Part of Lake Road near WaferTech in Camas was closed for nearly two hours after a tanker truck spilled about a gallon of sulfuric acid onto the road.  The acid was contained and cleaned up with no runoff and no damage to the road.  Sulfuric acid is a byproduct of WaferTech's manufacturing process, during which silicon wafers are etched with circuitry to make computer chips. The company sells the acid to other manufacturers.  The spill, from a Chemical Transfer Company vehicle, may have been the result of an improperly secured hose, which had been used to drain the acid from WaferTech tanks into the truck.  The vehicle's driver stopped as soon as he realized the chemical had spilled, at about 1:30 p.m.  Southeast First Street was closed between WaferTech's west entrance and Northwest Friberg-Strunk Street until about 3:15 p.m., when cleanup efforts were complete.  The Camas Fire Department worked with WaferTech to neutralize the chemical and clean up the spill.  WaferTech will submit a full report to the state Department of Ecology, which may prompt further review by the agency.

The truck was traveling Northbound on I-476 (Blue Route) and began to exit to get onto I-76 (Schuylkill Expressway) when it overturned around 7:53 a.m.  Smoke was noticed coming from around the vehicle where the load had dumped onto the road and the shoulder of the road.  The smoke was actually corrosive sulpher dioxide gas.  The dry sulphur had apparently mixed with something else causing a massive chemical reaction.  Crews in full hazmat gear arrived.  At the crash scene, air samples showed gas concentrations 30 times the level that can cause respiratory distress.  Fortunately, the plume quickly dissipated.

A sulfuric acid leak at the Dow plant caused only a minor amount of damage and no one was injured.  The leak at the plant in the 3300 block of Fifth Avenue South was small and contained by plant personnel.  A Level 1 alert was issued during the hour-long incident, which started about 1:15 p.m.  A Texas City Fire Department unit was dispatched to monitor the situation.

An overturned tractor-trailer near Newark early today spilled diesel fuel on the highway and caused lane closures along I-95 well into the afternoon.  Initially police reported that sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid had spilled from the truck, but later the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control determined that it was just fuel from the truck that leaked.  The trailer also contained numerous individual containers of hydrofluoric acid, which was of concern due to the high flammability of the chemical.

A semi-truck drove into a passenger car, which became lodged under the trailer.  The collision then ruptured an acid load in the truck and started a fire.  Three people in the passenger vehicle suffered serious injuries with one listed in critical condition.  The truck driver, as well as three firefighters and four DPS officers, were treated for inhalation problems.  The truck was carrying 1,500 pounds of sulfuric acid, phosphorus acid and sodium hydroxide.

Two 55-gallon drums of sulfuric acid punctured when a truck overturned on Interstate 84 near the southern Idaho town of Burley, closing the highway for about three hours.  Police say the westbound tractor-trailer tipped over on a cloverleaf.  An unspecified amount of sulfuric acid spilled after the accident and the westbound lane was closed.  A state-contracted crew cleaned up the spill after officials with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Homeland Security determined the leak had stopped.

A sulfuric acid leak at Weyerhaeuser's main Longview plant shot the liquid 45 feet in the air after a valve malfunctioned while a truck was unloading acid.  The leak occurred in a decontamination area and a crew of 15 hazard management workers were nearby to clean the spill up within three hours time.  No one was injured.  The decontamination area had a built-in shower, which made the clean-up easier.

February 23, 2007

A retired Bastrop Police Department officer is in stable condition in an Arkansas hospital after he was injured when the truck he was driving overturned in southwest Arkansas, spilling sulfuric acid onto the roadside.  Chris Branum, 55, was driving south along U.S. 71 near Ogden, Ark., just after 1 p.m. on Feb. 17 when he apparently lost control of the tanker truck he was driving. A spokesman with Arkansas State Police Troop G headquarters said Branum's skidded almost 150 before it entered the median, where it traveled another 80 feet before it overturned.  According to a story published by the Texarkana Gazette, rescue crews arrived on the scene but were initially kept away from the scene because of the leaking sulfuric acid.  Branum was transported to CHRISTUS St. Michael Health Center in Texarkana and treated for lung and head injuries. On Wednesday, he was reported in stable condition.  The State Police spokesman said no citations were issued following the wreck.

While sulfuric acid was leaking from a ruptured valve on an overturned tanker truck Saturday, the driver was rescued by emergency crews and passing motorists on U.S. Highway 71.  Branum was southbound on U.S. Highway 71 about a mile south of Ogden near the Arkansas Highway Police weigh station when the accident happened.  Authorities say Branum lost control of the rig as he entered a curve in the highway. The truck is owned by Phoenix Transport. Investigators also say gusty west winds may have contributed to Branum losing control of the tanker truck, which was loaded with sulfuric acid.  Firefighters used shovels to dig a trench to direct the flowing acid to a culvert. They also used a smoke ejector fan to blow possible fumes away from the firefighters who were shoveling the dirt.  A backhoe was later used to dig a deeper trench to contain the acid.

Sulphur dioxide was accidentally accidentally released into the air and the gas seeped into Paulsboro High School during first period, causing headaches, feelings of nausea and some instances of vomiting in as many as 15 students and a handful of faculty members.  Valero officials tested the interior of the high school after the release measuring sulfur dioxide at levels between zero and five parts per 1 million parts of air.  The smell of rotten eggs lingered in Paulsboro until the late afternoon, almost disappearing entirely by 4 p.m.

A chemical spill in Tillsonburg caused an evacuation, and sent 7 people to hospital.  At around noon a chemical spill of Sulphur Dioxide happened at Guardian Industries.  Two employees were taken to hospital, were treated and released, five other also went to the hospital were found not to have suffered any effects.  Neighboring businesses and six homes were also evacuated.  Roads in the immediate area were closed for several hours.  The Tillsonburg Emergency Control Group was activated but an emergency was not declared.  The Spills Action Centre was contacted as well as the chemical supplier have dealt with the clean up.

A gas cloud from the DuPont plant located at 12501 Strang Road forced officials to issue a shelter-in-place and shut down a freeway.  Officials said oleum was released from the unit that produces sulfuric acid.  "We had an upset in that process. As a result, we vented a significant amount of sulfuric acid mist," said Ken Martin, DuPont's safety supervisor.  Oleum came out of a 300-foot stack for about 10 minutes.  The unit was shut down and the release was stopped but not until after a large cloud covered the area.  "The cloud itself was a very, very fine sulfuric acid mist. I personally drove through the cloud multiple times in my personal car. The thing I would recommend people do if you thought you were exposed to a significant amount of it or your vehicle, something like that, wash it off this afternoon," Martin said.

Residents south of the plant and along Highway 225 were asked to shelter-in-place until it was lifted at 1 p.m.  Residents in the Pasadena subdivision of El Jardin were under a shelter-in-place until 1:30 p.m.  La Porte Independent School District schools were included in the shelter-in-place.  Highway 225 was shut down in both directions between at Highway 146 at Sens Road.

No one was injured.

Nearly 100 gallons of sulfuric acid spilled a parking lot at French Paper Co. in Niles.  There were no injuries and no equipment was damaged.  A container tipped while being transported by a  forklift.  Mill staff contained, neutralized and cleaned up the spill.  Nobody was injured and at no time was anyone in danger.  Sulfuric acid is used in paper making for pH control.  French Paper employees and emergency personnel used a powder to soak up the sulfuric acid and it was then placed in a dumpster and French Paper is waiting approval from state agencies to dispose of it.

A spokesperson for the Polk County, Tennessee Sheriff's Office says that they have been forced to shutdown Highway 64 due to a sulfuric acid spill. A tanker truck has overturned on the Highway near Parksville Lake and is apparently leaking acid. Emergency and Hazardous Materials Teams are on the scene, or enroute to try and contain the leak. There are no homes or businesses in the immediate area so no evacuations are underway. However, again, Hwy. 64 is closed in both directions near Parksville Lake.

A train spilled around 35 tons of sulphuric acid destined for the copper industry after being derailed by broken tracks.  The train was carrying some 72 tons of the acid which was headed for the country's largest copper mine, the Indian-owned Konkola Copper Mines (KCM).  The accident occurred 50 miles north of the tourist capital Livingstone.  Railway officials told the local press that unless the spill could be quickly neutralized with lime, there was a good chance that rain would wash it into a nearby canal, posing a danger to local people, livestock and wildlife.  This was the second major accident in as many weeks for KCM, which last week allowed untreated effluent from a plant in the town of Chingola to spill into a nearby river.

A truck driver was filling his truck with the dangerous liquid when something apparently went wrong. He’s been taken to a local hospital. The extent of his injuries remains unclear.  Between 500 and 1000 liters of the acid reportedly leaked, but apparently did not get into the water, where it would have combined to produce a poisonous gas.

Teams from around the region yesterday were trying to recapture about 1,500 gallons of sulfuric acid that escaped from a tank near the Granby town line Monday night and forced the cancellation of school in South Hadley and the evacuation of 88 households in Granby and South Hadley.  A police officer was treated for exposure to sulfuric acid fumes.  In Granby, 68 households were evacuated as a precaution following the spill about 8 p.m. on Monday at Presstek Inc., 755 New Ludlow Road.  The liquid leaked into a cement holding pit.  On Tuesday, the evacuation was extended to include 20 homes on East Street in South Hadley because the spill formed a gas inside the building.

One eastbound lane of Hwy. 401 near Milton remains closed this morning after diesel fuel and sulfuric acid leaked from a tractor-trailer after it collided with a car last night.  Sulfuric acid leaked onto the highway in a “small amount,” which was “immediately contained”.  Emergency crews were called to the eastbound 401 just past Hwy. 6 where the two vehicles collided, sending a female in the car to Hamilton General Hospital with what appeared to be non life-threatening injuries just before 7 p.m.  All eastbound lanes at the site of the collision were closed down as hazardous materials crews clean up the acid and fuel, and the tractor-trailer is removed from the ditch.  The Ministry of Environment has also been called in to investigate.

Hazardous material crews are at the scene of a spill at an east side chemical plant.  Crews were called just before noon on Tuesday to Chemsol Products, at East 163rd Street and St. Clair.  Officials said there was a sulfuric acid spill there when a 3,000-gallon tank leaked about 1,000 gallons into a secondary containment dike.  About 20 gallons leaked into the ground, a small amount of which may have leaked into the sewer system.  No boil alerts have been issued and there have been no evacuations.

Prince George RCMP were called to  help out in diverting traffic along Highway 97 last night after a southbound CN train had a fire on several sulfur cars.  The Bear Lake fire department had evacuated homes adjacent to the tracks in Bear Lake as the train moved south  to a location where the fire could be fought without increasing risk  to neighbours.  The Prince George Fire Dispatch and Bear Lake Fire Department decided the best way to deal with this kind of fire was with a  water fog so they wouldn't create any dangerous gases.  The train moved to a spot about 2 kilmetres south of Bear Lake, near Hart Lake.  That spot was chosen as there was more than enough water supply, and any possible fumes would not  endanger the  community to the north.  The Bear Lake  Fire Department responded with two pumper units and crews in breathing aparatus.  They extinguished the fire and the train continued southbound to a spot on the outskirts of Prince George where Prince George Fire Crews  inspected the cars.  Because there needed to be a safety zone of 800 metres from the tracks, all traffic on highway 97 north of the city was blocked.  It took  firefighters about 45 minutes to ensure the  cars were safe, and traffic backed up for about a quarter of mile in either direction.   Thee were no injuries, but the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

An accidental gas release at the Valero refinery in east Houston sent nearly 30 workers to area hospitals, where they were treated for respiratory complaints.  Alarms sounded about 9:30 a.m. when sulfur dioxide gas from a sulfuric acid tank escaped into the atmosphere at the refinery on Central near Manchester.  It prompted an evacuation of workers and a shelter-in-place order for the surrounding neighborhood and several schools near the refinery that lasted about 45 minutes.  The leak was quickly contained, and workers were allowed back inside the refinery shortly after 1 p.m.  The refinery had just begun a 40-day maintenance turnaround that closed the entire plant.  Sulfur dioxide gas leaked from a sulfuric acid tank

September 6, 2006 - The state Environment Department is requiring the tracking company to clean up groundwater contamination from a spill of sulfuric acid in the crash near Silver City.  The acid flowed along N.M. 90 and about a half mile down an arroyo on Phelps Dodge Mining Co. property 10 miles south of town after an Aug. 14 crash between two vehicles _ one of them a Chemical Transportation Inc. truck hauling the acid for Phelps Dodge. 
  Low pH in groundwater is not a primary health concern, but such low pH causes contaminants such as heavy metals to more easily dissolve into groundwater.  Although Phelps Dodge is not responsible for the spill, the mining company is helping the trucking firm with the cleanup.

October 6, 2006 - SILVER CITY, N.M. (AP) - Officials say it’ll take an additional three to four weeks to clean up a sulfuric acid spill on New Mexico 90, south of Silver City.  A tanker truck loaded with about 3,000 gallons of acid collided with a pickup truck August 14^th.  About 500 gallons of the acid spilled on the highway and adjacent property.  The tanker is owned by Arizona-based Chemical Transportation Incorporated.  A company official, Jack Smith, says the cleanup likely will cost more than $250,000.  Crews have excavated more than 12,000 cubic yards of soil.

Just after 11:00, the chemical company on Industrial Way, was restarting its machinery following a brief maintenance shut down.  When the equipment fired up, a plume of sulphur dioxide was released, and the wind carried the emissions to the Rustad Sawmill plant.  Thirteen sawmill workers were rushed to hospital in Prince George Wednesday after being overcome by fumes from a nearby chemical plant that manufactures sulphuric acid and liquid sulphur dioxide.  Fire officials say a large dark cloud of sulphur dioxide drifted across the tracks from the nearby Marsulex plant to the sawmill on Wednesday morning.  But workers at Canfor's Rustad planer mill didn't develop breathing difficulties for several hours.  Seven of them were taken to the Prince George Regional Hospital by ambulance, while the other six were able to make their own way to the emergency ward.  The 13 victims were treated with oxygen for 90 minutes and then released.  Canfor's Prince George manager Mark Feldinger says workers are angry and frustrated by the incident, and he says there are a lot of questions that need answering.  "We'll be dealing with the appropriate regulatory agencies and Marsulex to find out what their procedures are, what the regulatory requirements are and what we need to do to protect our employees."  The sawmill was closed for a few hours with all employees sent home, but it has resumed operations with the afternoon shift.

November 17, 2006 - A Chinese shipowner was arrested on Friday following a spill of sulphuric acid which forced more than 1,500 residents to evacuate and killed fish by the thousands.  Xu Changjun, 41, would face unspecified criminal charges for the spill in August on the Grand Canal, a 900-year-old waterway in east China, Xinhua news agency said.

July 6, 2007 - A Chinese court sentenced a ship owner and captain to three years in jail for not preventing an accident that dumped 200 tons of sulfuric acid into the 900-year-old Grand Canal last year, state media said Friday.  The Yuhang People's Court in east China's Hangzhou city on Wednesday convicted the cargo ship's owner, Xu Changjun, and the captain, Liu Guanhe, of allowing their vessel to dump the chemical into the water last August, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The report said the ship had been damaged and repaired a month before the accident but failed to undergo a required safety check before being put back into operation.  The two men tried to use liquid soap, glue, and iron flakes to patch holes in the ship when it started to leak and kept sailing until it capsized, it said. They alerted local authorities only after two thirds of the ship was underwater.  Local authorities were forced to pour 900 tons of liquid alkali into the waterway to neutralize the acid after the spill.  Xinhua said the men were also ordered to pay 23,200 yuan ($3,050) in compensation to two downstream fishing companies that suffered economic losses from the pollution.
China's waterways are dangerously polluted after decades of rapid economic growth and lax enforcement of pollution controls.  A quarter of the length of the country's seven main river systems are so polluted that even touching the water is harmful to skin, the vice minister of China's State Environmental Protection Agency, Pan Yue, told state media earlier this week. Seven of the nine major lakes the agency monitors were equally toxic.

The Philippine Coast Guard on Sunday assured the public that a barge loaded with sulfuric acid, which was reported early Saturday to have sunk off the waters of Bauan, Batangas, did not cause a major spill in the Batangas Bay.  A conflicting report stated that the ill-fated Billy Star spilled a minimal portion of its 1,270 tonnes of sulfuric acid as it sank on Batangas Bay.

Lieutenant Commander Darryl Vargas, duty officer of the Coast Guard regional office in Batangas City, said they had completely contained the toxic chemical from the Billy Star barge.  The sunken vessel had been cordoned off to avoid any potential environmental destruction it might bring.  Despite the heavy rains brought by typhoon “Domeng,” Coast Guard personnel were able to bring the barge to a drydock.  The barge has been undergoing repair since June 14 at the shipyard of Keppel drydock in barangay (village) San Miguel, Bauan town when the incident was reported at around 12:40 a.m. Saturday.  The barge came from Romblon and was undergoing repair after its bullet tank containing 1,270 metric tons of sulphuric acid was damaged by typhoon “Caloy” last month.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on Monday warned Batangas City residents against eating fish caught in Batangas Bay after a barge loaded with sulfuric acid sank off the coast of Bauan town Saturday.

July 6, 2006 - THE Philippine Coast Guard will start this Thursday or on Friday a cleanup of the Batangas Bay, where a barge containing more than 1,000 tons of sulfuric acid sank in late June, an official said Wednesday.  The Coast Guard has hired Hideya Waste Management Corp. to do the cleanup, and a British insurance company that covers the sunken Billy Star barge will shoulder the cost, said Antonio Principe, regional environmental director for the Southern Tagalog region.  The sulfuric acid will be transferred from the four “bullet tanks” of Billy Star to another vessel, where the chemical will be neutralized, Principe told reporters.  The neutralized acid will then be disposed 25 nautical miles southeast of Lubang Island

The sulphuric acid was headed for a mine in the Northern Territory where it would be used to extract metal from ore.  About five tonnes of hydrated lime was used to neutralise the acid spill.  A backhoe removed the contaminated lime and soil from the area and took it to a recognised dump site.

The remaining acid was decanted into another tanker.

A section of Frame Park was blocked off with bright yellow caution tape Monday morning as authorities dealt with a chemical spill in a small stream leading into the Fox River.  About 350 gallons of sulphuric acid entered the Fox River through a storm drain when a container full of sulphuric acid broke open at the International Truck & Engine Corp.  When the container broke attempts were made to contain the spill within the boundary of the company but the attempts were not successful and the acid entered the river.

Police and fire dispatchers say six cars of the C-S-X freight train left the track around 4 a-m. No injuries are reported but the mishap is blocking traffic at Tremont and Somerset Streets. Authorities are checking unconfirmed reports that one car was carrying sulfuric acid, but they say there is no leakage and no evacuations have been ordered.

Sulfuric acid splashed on two workers sending them to a hospital today and forcing the evacuation of a Westside aluminum fabricator.  Wayne Township firefighters said 20 gallons of sulfuric acid spilled inside Magnode Corp., 4151 W. Washington Street, about 10:45 a.m.  About 100 employees were evacuated and Marion County sheriff’s deputies stopped traffic on Washington between Holt and Lynhurst roads.  Employees inside the plant were transferring the acid from a delivery tanker.   “They were trying to fill a sulfuric tank,” co-owner Marianne Walter said. “There was too much pressure and it blew a pipe and acid sprayed.”   Two workers were taken to Methodist Hospital. No conditions were immediately available, but fire officials said their injuries were not life threatening.  Walter identified one of the victims as supervisor Norm Carpenter. The name of the other worker was not released.  Firefighters were cleaning up the spill.

A broken valve allowed sulfuric acid vapors to be released from a tanker truck at the Stepan Co. chemical plant yesterday, prompting authorities to halt service on a nearby section of the River Line light rail for two hours.  State police said the incident was reported about 10:20 a.m. after vapors were discovered coming from the acid-filled tanker.    Stepan employees quickly evacuated the area, as state troopers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and the Burlington County hazardous materials team rushed to the plant.  The vapors released from the tanker were concentrated in an area of about 50-by-50 feet, but because the wind was blowing toward the railroad tracks, NJ Transit, as a precaution, suspended service on the River Line between the Roebling and Bordentown stations.  State police said hazardous materials team members were able to shut off the damaged valve and stop the release. The vapors that had already vented soon dissipated, state police said.  Emergency personnel left the plant and River Line service was restored by about 12:30 p.m., state police said.

April 26, 2006

A Montana truck driver was killed in a collision with another rig on Interstate 80 in eastern Nevada.   Investigators said a rig driven by Forrest Smith, 48, of Crescent Valley, was westbound on the interstate, climbing a steep grade at a slow speed last night when a tractor-trailer driven by Nathan Folsom, 54, of Ennis, Mont., drove up behind him.   Folsom apparently underestimated Smith’s speed as he closed in.  He hit the brakes and steered sharply to the left, but clipped the rear of Smith’s vehicle.   Folsom was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected. He died at the scene.   Smith’s last trailer contained sulfuric acid, but it was not breached and no leakage was detected. He was not hurt.  The interstate was limited to one lane in each direction for about seven hours.

A toxic chemical spill triggered a rush-hour alert at Hamilton docks as firefighters wearing breathing masks raced to contain a sulphuric acid scare on the Bermuda Islander container ship.   Emergency crews hosed down the top deck of the boat, where the bulk of a 250 litre drum of the substance had leaked during the trip from New Jersey.  Nobody was injured in the incident.  Lt. Wenda Godfrey, of the Bermuda Fire Service, said it appeared that one of six sulphuric acid tubs stored on a palette on the Islander had slipped off and leaked.  The palette was removed from the Islander once it arrived in Hamilton.   Some of the sulphuric acid still in the leaking drum appeared to spill on the docks before firefighters covered the affected area in sand.  Inquiries were ongoing to find out who owned the chemical at the centre of the scare. “At this stage we do not know who it belongs to,” she added, stating that it looked like a strap had slipped off one of the drums during the voyage.
Lt. Godfrey said such spills were rare. A fire service emergency plan to deal with chemical spills swung into action yesterday, although an emergency support unit on the dockside, dealing with hazardous material leaks, was not needed.
Six fire trucks and eleven firefighters attended the call out just before 9 a.m. yesterday, when the rush-hour commute was in full flow.  Bermuda Islander arrived in Hamilton at about 8.15 a.m. And Maurice Brimmer, superintendent at Hamilton docks, said staff were aware of the spill as soon as the boat berthed, carrying a total of 123 containers.  “We were alerted by the personnel on the boat,” added Mr. Brimmer, who said he was not certain how the chemical spilled on the deck, although a hole in the drum may have been behind the leak.  An eyewitness said that a morning downpour led to the acid “smoking up” from the floor around the palette, before firefighters quickly moved to sand it down during the clean-up operation.

A fire broke out during the start-up process of the SA-3 plant in Gujarat State Fertilizer Company (GSFC) near Chhani on Tuesday evening.  Five plant staffers sustained 30 to 40 per cent burn injuries in the mishap.  The incident created alarm and confusion among angry staffers when the injured were not provided with proper medical aid on time.  The accident occured around 6 pm during the start-up process, following a shut-down process of the SA-3 plant two days back.  A back fire from the acid unit that trapped five men.   Later, the fire also caused damage to the acid pipeline carrying sulphuric acid to the unit.

A truck carrying sulphuric acid rolled over on a highway in northwestern Ecuador, killing the driver and spilling its chemical cargo into the river that provides the drinking water for th