Environmental alarm on the A1

Corrosive liquid leaked from truck bed

Wearing protective suits, the emergency services unloaded the damaged barrel.

(Bild: DOKU-NÖ)

A viscous substance dripping from a truck bed at the Schallaburg rest area on the Westautobahn caused an environmental alarm in the Melk district on Wednesday. A large contingent of emergency services recovered and expertly disposed of the leaking barrel.

The picture that presented itself to the highway police officers on Wednesday afternoon, who were the first to arrive at the Schallaburg rest area, was alarming: an unknown, viscous substance had leaked from a barrel on the loading area of a truck. A large area of the parking lot was already contaminated, and the liquid was also threatening to run off into the sewer system.

Police cordoned off the parking lot
As it was unclear which substance was involved, the parking lot was immediately cordoned off and the Melk fire department's hazardous substances team was alerted. The police also informed ASFINAG, whose employees immediately brought large quantities of binding agent to the scene.

Leaking barrel disposed of in special container
Firefighters in protective suits opened the tarpaulin of the truck and discovered a leaking 200-liter drum from which the substance, which was now classified as corrosive, was escaping. As an immediate measure, the drum was carefully turned over so that the leakage of the liquid was stopped. Together with hazardous substance specialists from the St. Pölten fire department, the barrel was then loaded into a special container and handed over to a specialist disposal company.