Chemical substance leaks at Ben Gurian airport

A hazardous substance leaked out of a container in the cargo area of Israel's Ben Gurion Airport on Saturday night. Four tanks containing 800 liters of acrylamide break open at warehouse in Ben Gurion Airport, seven hours after being unloaded from El Al flight, Israeli daily (Yediot Aharonot) reported. A 65-year-old man who experienced a burning sensation in his eyes was taken to the Chaim Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer. The tanks had been stored at the Maman group's Cargo Terminal warehouses according to procedure, the Israeli daily reported, adding that an unknown chemical reaction led the containers to break open and the acrylamide substance to leak. The area has been evacuated and experts on dangerous substances from Petah Tikva's fire station were dispatched to the site. Firefighters are trying to prevent leaks from the other containers, 10 of which were unloaded from the plane, according to the newspaper. Israel Airports Authority chief Yaakov Ganot has barred aerial transport of acrylamide until the circumstances behind the event are made clear, the paper said. El Al's spokesman said that the incident occurred seven hours after a 747-400 Boeing airplane which departed from Belgium landed at the Ben Gurion Airport. "A malfunction occurred while the cargo was being unloaded," he said in a statement, pointing "No damage was caused to the plane which departed for another cargo flight." Prof. Amnon Albeck of the Bar Ilan University said that acrylamide is toxic but has no immediate fatal effect. He said that the substance can cause irritation in the eye or the upper airway and that prolonged and intense exposure to it could prove lethal, but not in small amounts.