Dimona Residents Get All Clear After Chemical Spill

YERUSHALAYIM
An Israel Railways train Photo by Moshe Shai/FLASH90
An Israel Railways train. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Things were back to normal in Dimona after a harrowing night Monday in which hundreds of residents were told to lock their doors and close their windows. The orders were due to a bromine and phosphate leak that had occurred after a freight train carrying the chemicals rammed into several train cars that were parked at the Dimona station and released the chemical into the atmosphere, causing breathing problems and skin irritation in several residents, and giving off a powerful odor that wafted throughout the region. Four people were treated in area hospitals as a result of the incident.

Police close all the roads in the area, and ordered the “closure” for residents within one kilometer of the incident. Environment Ministry workers operated through the night to contain the danger, officials said.

Despite getting the situation “under control,” there is still some bromine on the road, and Environment Ministry officials recommended that stores and businesses in the immediate area of the spill remain closed until the rest of the chemical is cleaned up.

Israel Railways has opened an investigation into the incident. The Dimona railway station is currently closed, but the closure is not affecting transit on other lines, officials said.

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