Balve (dpa / lnw) – In a chemical company in Balve in Sauerland (Märkischer Kreis), hydrochloric acid leaked from a tanker truck on Sunday. The fire brigade was alerted around 11 a.m. and bound hydrochloric acid vapors with water, said a fire department spokesman. The hydrochloric acid was pumped from the truck, which apparently had a leak, into 1,000-liter containers.
No one was injured, the spokesman said. Residents were asked to close windows and doors. To be on the safe side, around 35 residents of a nearby asylum seekers’ home were taken out of the building to safety. They were temporarily accommodated on a bus and should return to their accommodation later, the fire brigade said.
About 100 liters of water contaminated with hydrochloric acid flowed into the sewage system. However, the pipes did not lead to public waters, but to a sewage treatment plant that would clean the water, the spokesman said. Several media had previously reported.
