More than 200 villagers in central China's Hubei Province were evacuated after a truck spilled some 37 tonnes of hydrochloric acid Wednesday, rescuers said.

More than 200 villagers in central China's Hubei Province were evacuated after a truck spilled some 37 tonnes of hydrochloric acid on February 10, 2010. [Xinhua photo]

A truck loaded with the highly corrosive chemical veered off a section of a highway in Songzi County of Jingzhou City, at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, splashing all the 37 tonnes of hydrochloric acid onto the ground.

Firefighters immediately cordoned off the site and evacuated more than 200 people in a leeward village just one kilometer away.

Rescuers set up barriers around the spill and kept diluting the chemical with water. They also poured three full-load trucks of quicklime to neutralize the chemical.

Traffic resumed at about 3 p.m. and no one was reported to have been sickened by the accident.