Emergency teams spent several hours cleaning up a diesel and oil spill on 14th Avenue next to the N1 Western Bypass after a truck overturned in the early hours of Tuesday, May 26.

According to SCP Security, the incident was reported to their control room at about 00:40. A private fire search and rescue team was sent to the scene immediately, with a fire engine arriving shortly afterwards to assist.

Diesel and oil spilt across the road when the vehicle, which was transporting a huge industrial machine, overturned. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries from the incident.

Teams from the South African National Roads Agency SOC Limited (Sanral) arrived on the scene with industrial absorbent soil, which was used to contain and limit the spill.

After the spill was successfully contained, the rescuers started sweeping the contaminated sand and debris off the road to ensure the safety of motorists driving through the area.

Fire crews also washed down the road to remove leftover oil from the surface.

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The clean-up operation took several hours because of the size of the spill and the amount of material that had to be removed. Authorities thanked Sanral and all emergency personnel involved for helping make the scene safe again.