Seven people were taken to Nis hospital. The accident happened in the evening in the Pirot region in the southeast of the country. According to the mayor, a state of emergency has been declared in some parts of the 60,000-resident city of Pirot.
The train derailed in the early evening, after which ammonia escaped and was released into the atmosphere in large quantities, the interior ministry said. It called on residents of the area to stay at home. Several roads were closed.
According to the railway company Srbija Kargo, the train consisted of 20 tankers with toxic cargo from neighboring Bulgaria. As a result, the train derailed “outside the residential areas”. To be on the safe side, a four kilometer wide closed off area was set up.
(SDA)