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Chemical leak causes evacuation in Stockholm

Xinhua, May 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

A biochemical leak near a Stockholm hospital on Thursday injured 11 as around 500 people were force to vacate an office building, local media reported.

Staff at the medical company Sci Life Lab near Karolinska University Hospital reported the leak at noon before police cordoned off the area for about three hours, public broadcaster Swedish Television reported.

"An unknown person spilled or threw the substance into a janitor's waste bin," police spokesperson Albin Naverberg told the channel.

The 11 victims who inhaled the chemicals experienced dizzy spells and facial numbness, although none had to be taken to hospital, Naveberg said.

"There has been a strong chemical smell on a couple of floors, but we do not know what it is," said Erik Malm, a security coordinator at Sci Life Lab, told the news agency TT.

In the late afternoon, rescue services said the leaked substance was likely a cleaning detergent of some kind.

"This is not a regular detergent used in people's homes, but much stronger stuff since this is a laboratory," Jonas Frojmark, head of the rescue mission, told Swedish Television. Endit