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Truck accident on A81: toluene transport in flames, closure now lifted!
After a truck accident on the A81 near Sulz am Neckar, the motorway was completely closed and the closure has now been lifted.
Truck accident on A81: toluene transport in flames, closure now lifted!
On Monday afternoon, a serious truck accident occurred on Autobahn 81 between Sulz am Neckar and Empfingen. A tractor-trailer loaded with about 30 to 35 cubic meters of the chemical solvent toluene began to swerve, hit the guardrail and overturned. As a result, a fire broke out. Fortunately, the driver of the dangerous goods transporter was able to get to safety and only suffered minor injuries. After the accident, the highway was completely closed in both directions, causing significant traffic delays.
The closure lasted until Tuesday evening, when the motorway was finally fully reopened and road users were free to travel again. The diversions that were put in place led to long traffic jams of up to five kilometers and a loss of time of at least an hour, like schwaebische.de reported.
Complex salvage work
The tractor-trailer fire, which was suddenly extinguished at 3 a.m., left a complex situation even after it was extinguished. Since not all of the toluene had been burned, the substance had to be pumped out at great expense. The lanes in the direction of Singen were particularly badly damaged by the accident and the fire. Around 320 emergency services and around 60 emergency vehicles were deployed until early Tuesday morning to deal with the situation. The BASF factory fire department supported the emergency services in the rescue work.
The importance of toluene, which is used in the chemical industry and for diesel production, underlines the urgency of quick and professional handling of the solvent. In this critical situation, hazard information was issued via warning apps such as NINA, asking residents to keep windows and doors closed.
Overall, the cleanup effort was lengthy and challenging due to the complexity of the incident. The efforts of emergency crews ultimately helped advance highway repairs and restore traffic flows as quickly as possible, as well sueddeutsche.de reported.