A truck carrying 32 tons of aqueous alkali on Tuesday plunged into the Hanjiang River, the main tributary of the Yangtze River in central China's Hubei Province, spilling the chemical into the river.

 The spillover accident happend at around 3:30 PM Tuesday, when a truck with a designed load of 20 tons was crossing the Xiantao-Hanchuan section of the Hangjiang River by ferry.

The overloaded vehicle turned over and fell into the river and had some of the aqueous alkali it carried leak out into the water. The driver escaped after the accident, according to the provincial administration of environmental protection.

The local environmental protection and water supply authoritieshave started test and monitoring work shortly after the accident.

Wuhan, the provincial capital and an important transport hub ofcentral China, was located downstream the accident spot. The city is keeping alert against any possible changes of the water quality.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2005)