Truck leaks hydrochloric acid on Calder Freeway

Authorities have used 20 trucks and more than 60,000 litres of water to control a massive hydrochloric acid leak from a truck on Victoria’s Calder Freeway this morning.

The tanker pulled over on the freeway north of Gisborne in the Macedon Ranges just before 6am, and began leaking 20,000 litres of chemicals onto the road.

Both northbound lanes of the Calder Freeway near Mt Macedon Road were closed for more than 9 hours, but have since been reopened.

CFA Operations Officer Craig Brittain said the truck was being decanted into another tanker.

“The chemical company in charge of the tankers have got a spare tanker here to decant from the leaking tank in to the spare tanker, which will take some time,” Mr Brittain said.

Water vapour has also been employed over the truck to dilute the cloud of acid leaking from the tanker.

“It only started with a minor leak to begin with, and the driver did the right thing by pulling over safely and notifying emergency services,” he said.

The incident could have environmental implications, with the EPA investigating what impact the acid run-off will have on the surrounding area.