Crashed truck spills acid onto Zhejiang farmland

Firefighters and environment emergency workers are racing to contain sulphuric acid spilled from a truck which crashed in east China's Zhejiang Province early on Saturday.

The truck carrying the acid veered onto the opposite side of the highway and fell on its side into farmland alongside the road in Jiande City, near Hangzhou.

The driver and a passenger in the truck were killed, and 15 tonnes of acid spilled onto the farmland, which is 10 km from a river.

Environment workers have used diluting agents to neutralize the acid and trucked away some of it.

An investigation has suggested the driver was at fault for the accident.

At an emergency meeting, city officials ordered environment, police and transport authorities to monitor the incident's impact on local soil and water.