Abu Dhabi: Traffic on the Abu Dhabi-Sila'a highway in the western region was disrupted after liquid oxygen spilled out of a tanker that turned over on Tuesday.
According to Abu Dhabi police, the driver lost control of the tanker after hitting a small sand that built up due to heavy winds in the area. However, there were no casualties.
"The tanker carrying 7,000 gallons of liquid oxygen hit the sand on the road, swerved and turned over.
"The accident also caused the tanker to leak and liquid spilled out," said Brigadier Abdul Latif Dossary of Abu Dhabi Police.
He said the accident was caused by bad weather as strong winds blew sand onto the main highway.
"Initially we received a report that a tanker carrying liquid nitrogen had turned over, leaking the liquid. A rescue and safety team headed by Lieutenant Colonel Osman Yousuf Al Tamami, Deputy Director of the Emergency and Safety Department of the Police immediately flew to the site of the accident. He was accompanied by a technical rescue team in addition to an expert from the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD)," he added.
Al Dossary said that after examining the liquid, the EAD expert confirmed it was oxygen and was not dangerous. The valves of the tanker were opened to flush out all the liquid, which took six hours, for safety reasons.
"Although it was confirmed the liquid was not so dangerous, the liquid on the road could have caused further accidents," Al Dossary added.
