A petrol tanker overturned yesterday on the Carretera del Arco A-356 within the municipality of La Viñuela; the second lorry accident within 24 hours.

The first accident involved an articulated lorry carrying building waste on Tuesday afternoon along Camino de Algarrobo in Vélez-Málaga. The driver was only slightly injured.

Yesterday’s accident was the result of the driver losing control of his BP tanker transporting diesel. Despite turning over onto its side, the driver was able to walk away from the accident only slightly injured. According to the 112 call centre, they received an alert at 10.40h yesterday morning from an eyewitness and despatched the fire service, Policía Local and the Guardia Civil Traffic Police.

Fortunately, there was a neglible loss of load so there was no need to activate the toxic-spill protocol when a tanker is involved in a road accident. Nor was it necessary to close down the road as it was sufficent to only close one lane and regulate the traffic flow until a specialised crane-cum-tow lorry arrived to set the vehicle back on its wheels so that it could be towed away.

(News: Algarrobo, Axarquia, Costa del Sol, Malaga, Andalucia)