Five people, including two children, were killed and five others were seriously injured after a truck carrying anhydrous ammonia overturned during a multi-vehicle crash in central Illinois, officials confirmed Saturday.
A semi truck carrying the chemical was found overturned on US Highway 40 in Teutopolis around 9:30 p.m. Friday, causing hazardous air conditions and the mandatory evacuation of about 500 residents.
Three semi trucks were involved in the accident and one vehicle caught fire. A tanker carrying ammonia started leaking after it rolled into a ditch.
Three adults and two children died after the gas leak. The child, whose age is unknown, and an adult are members of the same family and live in the area, according to WCIA.
One of the other dead was from Missouri, while the fifth, the truck driver, was from Ohio, the station reported.
Five more victims were taken to hospitals, and parts of Teutopolis and places within a mile of the spill are under an evacuation order set to expire Sunday morning.
A semi truck carrying the chemical was found overturned on US Highway 40 in Teutopolis, Illinois, Friday night, causing hazardous air conditions and mandatory evacuations. WCIA.comThree semi-trucks were involved in the incident and one vehicle caught fire. The tanker started leaking after it rolled into a ditch.WCIA.com
Emergency crews are working to clear the wreck, where half of the tank still has half a tank of ammonia, according to local outlets. Hazmat teams are working to remove the toxic chemical, which has caused clouds of ammonia to billow through the air.
The crash caused “a large cloud of anhydrous ammonia on the roadway which caused very hazardous air conditions in the northeast area of Teutopolis,” Effingham County Sheriff Paul Kuhns said.
“Due to this situation, emergency personnel had to wait. They had to cut things down before they could really work on it, and it’s quite a large area.”
Overnight winds wreaked havoc on emergency crews, leading firefighters to station crews in different areas to “re-report the direction of the wind.”
Three adults and two children died after the gas leak. The child, whose age is unknown, and an adult are members of the same family and live in the area.WCIA.com
A 15-person team from the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.
Anhydrous ammonia is used by farmers to add nitrogen fertilizer to the soil, and it is also used as a refrigerant in the cooling systems of large buildings such as warehouses and factories. According to the American Chemical Society, it is transported throughout the United States via pipelines, trucks and trains.
With Postal wire.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
