Sofia: Some 2,300 residents in central
Bulgaria were evacuated overnight after toxic gas escaped from a lorry following a road accident, authorities said Monday.
A cloud of styrene gas, used for the manufacturing of
plastic, was released over the town of Debelets after a
Turkish lorry traveling to Romania crashed near the town.
As a precaution, some 2,300 residents were evacuated
overnight and early today, the authorities said.
Environment protection services were closely monitoring
the toxic cloud and fire fighters continued to spray the lorry
to limit the risk of explosion, as temperatures were expected
to hit 35 degrees Celsius during the day.
However, no serious respiratory problems had yet been
reported, mayor Dimitar Dimitrov said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 11, 2011, 15:53