All-clear after chemical spillage

13 April 2012

A chemical leak which sparked a major incident at a docks has been brought under control.

Emergency services gave the all-clear to members of the public around Grangemouth Port in Central Scotland more than 12 hours after the alert began.

An investigation was under way into the cause of the incident.

A cordon was set up on Wednesday afternoon after a polymer called Divinyl Benzene escaped from a container at the docks.

The spillage of the chemical, which can cause eye, nose and skin irritation, caused a massive plume of smoke to billow into the sky, enveloping a large area of the docks.

Police and firefighters declared it a major incident and set up a 500 metre exclusion zone around the site.

Members of the public nearby were warned to keep their doors and windows shut.

At one point 13 fire crews were at the scene trying to identify the source of the leak and stop it from spreading.

Overnight firefighters kept the container at the centre of the scare cooled with water jets to dissipate any vapour escaping from the tank.

The emergency services managed to stop the vapour from escaping by 6am on Thursday, informing members of the public they were free to come and go as normal. Three crews remained at the scene to monitor the situation.

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