Sunshine Coast RCMP closed down Highway 101 briefly on Tuesday morning after a transport truck headed for Powell River rolled into the ditch, spilling some of its magnesium chloride load.
Const. Ewan Dewolf said the cause of the accident was still unknown and the investigation would be completed once a tow truck arrived to turn the rolled truck upright. As of press deadline Thursday, no charges had been laid. The driver for Macalbulk Transport, a Port Coquitlam company, suffered minor injuries, but remained at the scene to talk to investigators. Bill Elsner, emergency program co-ordinator for the Sunshine Coast, said the liquid chemical is used for dust control on roads.
Most of the 32,000 litres of product was sucked from collapsed tanks and gravel was put down on the road to absorb the rest. Police were concerned about traffic safety, as the chemical is slippery.
With children playing at the dock below the scene, Elsner said that magnesium chloride is non-toxic, that there was no diesel spilled in the rollover, and he considered the accident's impact to the environment to be a "very low-risk concern."
To be safe, a conservation officer was collecting water samples from Ruby Lake for testing, but Elsner said that with the size of the lake, the concentrated salt-water product was likely already diluted.
