Tainted fuel stops rush hour motorists in Sydney

Tainted Caltex fuel on Thursday morning triggered rush-hour chaos in Australia's largest city.

Twenty cars broke down on a major arterial road that leads into Sydney's Central Business District after purchasing ethanol- enhanced fuel from a Caltex petrol station.

Some had only traveled a few hundred meters before their vehicles began to stall.

Australia's leading motoring association suspected that water had seeped into the station's holding tanks, resulting in the contamination.

Caltex spokesman Sam Collyer issued a statement to local media, saying the petrol giant was sorry for the "rare" event that had inconvenienced dozens of customers and the morning rush hour.

"Our technical team is on its way to investigate what has caused this issue," Collyer said.

According to its website, Caltex is Australia's leading transport fuel supplier and the only integrated oil refining and marketing company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange ( ASX). Endi