A tanker truck carrying 18 tons of liquefied ammonia hit a pickup truck in southwest China’s Guizhou Province on Thursday, killing two people and resulting in a chemical leak.

Two people in the tanker died on the spot and three others in the pickup were injured, the local government reported early today.

No sickness caused by the leaked ammonia has been reported.

The accident took place on the expressway between the provincial capital Guiyang and Xinzhai, and caused a traffic standstill that lasted at least four hours.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the provincial environmental regulator is monitoring air and water quality, and the local government has evacuated all residents nearby and closed the expressway for two or three days.

(Xinhua News Agency December 23, 2005)