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ICBC reports ‘high volume’ of claims after acid spills on B.C. highway

Click to play video: 'Highway sulphuric acid spill in Trail, B.C. damages hundreds of vehicles'
Highway sulphuric acid spill in Trail, B.C. damages hundreds of vehicles
ICBC is dealing with hundreds of claims from people who drove through a sulphuric acid spill on the highway through the B.C. community of Trail. Ted Chernecki has the details on the destructive substance on the road – Aug 1, 2018

A major mining company has apologized after two acid spills earlier this year damaged a large number of vehicles in southeastern British Columbia.

Teck Resources says the two spills of sulphuric acid happened on April 10 and May 23, along a busy commuter route in Trail, after the company sold the acid and it was being moved.

In the first spill, about 220 litres of acid leaked as a truck travelled a 16-kilometre stretch of highway, and in the second, about 70 litres dripped from the truck over six kilometres along the same route.

Teck says both spills were cleaned up, no acid seeped into area waterways and there is no damage to roads or bridges.

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But the Insurance Corporation of B.C. says it is dealing with “an extremely high volume of claims'” from vehicle owners.

It has set up a dedicated phone line for drivers who may have travelled the road and an adviser who answered the line says the acid has the potential to corrode vehicle undercarriages, especially brake lines and brake systems.

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