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Chemical accident sparks alert sirens and road closures in Frankfurt

DPA/The Local
DPA/The Local - [email protected]
Chemical accident sparks alert sirens and road closures in Frankfurt
The scene on Tuesday morning. Photo: DPA

On Tuesday morning, a truck loaded with a liquid chemical substance overturned in the industrial park in Frankfurt's Griesheim district, sparking an alert in the Hesse city.

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The fire brigade reported on its website that hydrochloric acid vapours had escaped from a container. At first, the brigade thought it was possible that the accident posed a danger to locals. After about 3.5 hours, however, they gave the all clear.

All measurements carried out at various points turned out to be negative, a spokesman for the fire brigade said. The previously established road closures in the districts of Griesheim and Nied were lifted.

Early Tuesday morning at shortly after 4 a.m., warning sirens were triggered for the first time in Griesheim and the adjacent Nied district.

The residents were asked to keep doors and windows closed or to go to a building and switch on the radio - a standard procedure, a police spokesman explained.

The fire brigades in Griesheim and Höchst, as well as the Frankfurt fire brigade, fought the hydrochloric acid vapours escaping from the truck with water.

According to the company Weylchem Griesheim GmbH, hydrochloric acid vapours are toxic when inhaled and can cause skin burns and eye damage in higher concentrations. Hydrochloric acid is a precursor for numerous chemical processes and is therefore used in the company.

The two districts were temporarily closed to car traffic, and public transport was also affected.

The S-Bahn stops Griesheim and Nied could not be reached. As the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) announced on the Internet, there were cancellations, delays and detours on lines 1 and 2.

On Twitter the fire brigade also published a map with the area affected by the warning. There are now currently no known delays, however.

 

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