A truck that was transporting a toxic product, apparently some type of fertilizer, overturned this Wednesday afternoon on the Western highway, near the Buenos Aires town of Ituzaingó, in the direction of Capital, and generated a toxic cloud in the area and traffic problems, according to police and municipal sources.
The municipality of Ituzaingó recommended to the residents of the area of the accident that “Stay inside your homes, closing doors and windows.”
He also urged the population that in “If you have respiratory distress or any symptom compatible with poisoning, go immediately to the Posadas Hospital or the Ituzaingó Bicentennial Hospital.”
The firefighters, along with the local Civil Defense, also recommended “wear a chinstrap and seal the windows and doors of the houses to prevent odor and chemicals from entering homes.
As a result of the accident, several people were affected by inhalation of the product They had to be treated at the Posadas and Bicentenario hospitals, although none of them presented a serious condition.
? A truck transporting a toxic product overturned on the Western highway, at the height of the Buenos Aires town of Ituzaingó and generated a toxic cloud in the area and traffic problems pic.twitter.com/7sRrSR5TIl
– Telam Agency (@AgenciaTelam) February 22, 2023
As reported by volunteer firefighters from Ituzaingó to Télam, in the place “there is a quantity of toxic product, which still cannot be identified because the truck had no signage”, although the municipality indicated that it could be some type of fertilizer.
The road accident occurred at 6:00 p.m., when an Iveco brand cargo truck, model 450e33t, and its SU model semi-trailer, domain FYZ-838, that was transporting toxic products, dumped its contents on the trace also generating difficulties in transit in the direction of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
For their part, sources from the highway concessionaire indicated that The truck was destined for the Buenos Aires town of General Rodríguez.
While sources from the municipality of Ituzaingó told Télam that after the “The product that the semi trailer was carrying began to react spontaneously, releasing a dense white cloudwith a strong odor assimilable to a herbicide”.
For this fact “There are some affected who were taken to the Posadas hospital and the Bicentennial of Palomar and Ituzaingó. There are no details of how many. For now, none serious,” they said from the municipality located in the western suburbs.
Due to the fact, the driver of the cargo truck, whose identity was not provided, He was arrested by the Buenos Aires police.
I was working at the place tonight Civil Defense personnel, from the Autopista del Oeste, volunteer firefighters from Ituzaingó and the San Martin Ecological Police.
The road accident occurred at kilometer 26, causing the closure of traffic on the highway and detours at the Barcala and Martin Fierro exitsin both ways.
“Drive with caution” asked Autopistas del Oeste on Twitter.
At the scene of the road accident decontamination work is underway carried out by personnel from the San Martin Ecological Police, sources from the Ministry of Security of the Province of Buenos Aires told Télam.
The judicial case was in charge of Fiscal Unit (UFI) 1 of Ituzaingó who, informed of the fact, ordered, until it is determined what substance the unit was carrying, actions labeled “investigation of illegality.”