AN ACID spillage at a chemical plant caused serious traffic disruption in Cork city yesterday, however the situation was quickly contained and there were no injuries.
The alarm was raised shortly after 10.30am after hydrochloric acid leaked from a container at the Gouldings chemical plant on Centre Park Road on the south side of the city. Commercial and business premises all along the Centre Park Road were evacuated.
A number of roads including the Centre Park Road and the surrounding Monahan’s Road, Kennedy Road and The Marina were closed, causing severe traffic delays. Monahan’s Road was reopened at about lunchtime and the other roads were opened to traffic yesterday evening.
A spokesman for Gouldings explained that a quantity of acid had leaked from a holding tank shortly after 10.30am. This leak had been noticed by staff and the emergency services and relevant authorities were immediately advised of the situation.
Members of the fire service sprayed foam on the spilled acid to neutralise the fumes and the leak had been stopped by 12.30pm.
The spokesman said: “The tank is in a protected area and any spillage is totally contained within that small area. The tank has been fully secured and there is no further leakage. Some fumes were caused during the spill, but these have now been successfully neutralised and are no longer being emitted from the site.”
Normal operations have now been fully restored at Gouldings and the company has apologised for any inconvenience caused by the leak.
“Obviously anything like this is unfortunate, but within the grander scale of things, it was not as bad as some of these things have been in the past,” the spokesman said. “The situation was controlled very quickly by the company and the authorities.”
Units from Cork city fire service remained at the scene yesterday afternoon to supervise the clean- up operation.
Much to the relief of fans, the Paul Simon gig went ahead at Live at the Marquee in the Docklands last night as scheduled.
