HANGZHOU, May 17 (Xinhuanet) — Police and relief workers had controlled by Monday morning a poisonous hydrofluoric acid leakage from a tank truck on a highway in east China’s Zhejiang province, and no casualties were reported, sources from the local government said.

Traffic police officers said that the leak happened at 5:05 p.m.Sunday when the tank truck, loaded with 15 tons of hydrofluoric acid, was traveling along the highway in the Yiwu city of Zhejiangand the liquid burst out suddenly from the top. The driver stopped the truck and called the police immediately.

Police and fire fighters soon blocked the site and evacuated people around. The truck then was sent to a chemical factory in the neighboring Quzhou city for further treatment after the valve was fixed by some technical staff from the factory.

However, the acid burst out again on the road at around 8:47 p.m. on Sunday.

Police and relief workers diverted the acid into another truck and used lime for neutralization. It was not until 4:00 a.m. on Monday that the leak was put under complete control.

The hydrofluoric acid is a colorless, fuming and dangerously poisonous aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride. It is usually used to etch or polish glass, pickle certain metals, and clean masonry.

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