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Swedish emergency services fight to clean up toxic leak

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

Swedish emergency and rescue services fought to contain a leak of hydrofluoric acid in Avesta, a town in central Sweden Thursday.

Hydrofluoric acid is very toxic to inhale and the municipality has taken several steps to protect people in the area, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported on its online news site.

The municipality told schools to keep students indoors. The head of emergency services encouraged the public to close windows and ventilation ducts.

Shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday, emergency services received calls regarding an uncontrolled leak of hydrofluoric acid from a railway wagon in a building at stainless steel manufacturer Outokumpu in Avesta, SVT reported.

At 11 a.m., emergency rescue service SOS Alarm reported that there were 20 cubic meters of acid in the train car and that emergency services had not been able to stop the leak.

The leak contains 72 percent hydrofluoric acid, which is a very toxic mix of gas and liquid that is very poisonous to inhale and causes a lot of eye irritation.

Swedish police have initiated a preliminary investigation into a workplace-related accident that is potentially dangerous to the public. Enditem