N3 partially reopens after tanker spills oil on highway

The N3 near Montrose has been partially opened to traffic after a cooking oil-carrying tanker overturned on the highway on Friday morning just before midday.

N3 Toll Concession Operations manager, Thania Dhoogra, said clean-up operations are expected to continue throughout the night.

“Emergency teams working at the scene have now managed to partially open the southbound lanes. Heavy motor vehicles that have been stacked on the N3, are now being released in controlled batches to continue their passage,” she said.

Dhoogra said once the backlog of traffic has been cleared, traffic will contraflow on the southbound carriageway, one lane per direction, until the clean-up is complete.

“The northbound carriageway of the N3 is expected to remain closed for an extended period tonight,” she said.

It is alleged that the truck crashed into a barrier and overturned, causing a tear in the container. The leaked cooking oil quickly spread over a five-kilometre distance in both directions.

Road incident management services, including clean-up and recovery crews, rushed to the scene to decant the remaining cooking oil from the carrier, in order for cleaning of the road surface to continue.

-IOL

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