Chemical spill closes SA's busiest highway
Major clean-up operations are underway on the N1 North between Lynnwood and Atterbury after a truck transporting chemicals collided with a SUV in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Emergency services closed all lanes of the highway in the east of Tshwane after the truck overturned and spilt dangerous chemicals across all lanes.
Tshwane Emergency Services spokesperson Johan Pieterse says the truck was carrying a mixed load of chemicals including phosphate and silicone.
"Those chemicals are all dangerous once they come into contact with other materials - we cannot let the road user use the road until we have cleared it."
He says the driver of the truck was severely injured and transported to hospital.
#N1ChemicalSpill Pieterse: The product has been cleared from the freeway and the scene has been declared safe by emergency services although they still have to remove the vehicles, but that is not an obstruction to the freeway.
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) May 10, 2018