Major environmental incident

24,000 liters of diesel: Tanker truck left the road

Rapid action was required to deal with the overturned tanker truck.(Bild: Dominik Mederitsch)

There was an alarm on Friday in the Waldviertel brewery town of Weitra in Lower Austria. A tanker truck left the road, crashed onto its side and sprung a leak - 24,000 liters of diesel fuel threatened to contaminate the ground. The fire departments were also called out to rescue people.

It is still unclear why the tanker left the road in the town of Weitra in the district of Gmünd on March 14. Four fire departments and special operations units from the Florianis quickly deployed 70 members to the road accident and rescue operation.

Truck driver taken to hospital
The driver was able to free himself from the truck during the journey. He was first treated by the ambulance and taken to hospital. As a result of the accident, the tanker truck with 24,000 liters of diesel on board tipped onto its side and sprung a leak. The hazardous materials team from the fire department had to act quickly. 

"The accident caused a dome cover on the trailer to leak, causing the loaded diesel fuel to escape. We sealed the leak in a makeshift manner and set up fire protection. The operating company called in a salvage company to recover the vehicle, which arrived during the night," explained fire department spokesman Dominik Krenn. 

Three special recovery vehicles in action
Three special recovery vehicles for trucks were used to upright and tow away the articulated truck with the 24,000 liters of diesel on board. The water rights authority was also present during the operation. "They are now clarifying whether further steps are necessary," said the fire department.

Due to the rapid and professional response, however, only a small amount of the pollutant is likely to have escaped, which prevented any major environmental pollution.