An accident involving a lorry loaded with Lynas rare earths products left the commodities scattered on Kuala Lumpur-Kuantan federal road at Lanchang, Pahang, this morning, resulting in that stretch of the road being closed to traffic.

Temerloh district police chief Abdul Aziz Salleh said that the authorities received a report at 9am this morning, acknowledging that the incident took place at the 149th kilometre of the road, somewhere near Lanchang.

Speaking to Malaysiakini today, he said that the lorry was carrying 15 pails of chemical liquid, namely PrND Chloride, and 13 of them were scattered on the road.

He said that four of them were ruptured and caused the chemical liquid to spill onto the ground.

When asked whether the chemical liquid is considered hazardous, Abdul Aziz said that it is “not that hazardous” but people will feel itchy if they touch it.

“It must not goes into the water. If it goes into the river, then the fish in the river might die, but there is no river at the place,” he said.

He said that the place was neutralised by a specialist team from Lynas as well as the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART).

Abdul Aziz said that the incident may have been caused by the carelessness of the driver who did not tie down the goods well.

He said that the police will investigate this case under rule 19 of the Road Traffic Rules 1959 (loaded item falling from vehicle).

However, Lynas Malaysia public relations and communications general manager Amin Abdullah stressed that the rare-earth product is safe and none are radioactive.

“We don’t know whether the driver was over-speeding or any other reason, but the incident which happened this morning caused no casualty or fatality.

“These products are not dangerous. They are certified safe to be transported overseas and all the certificates are in place,” Amin said when contacted by Malaysiakini this afternoon.

When asked to comment on the police statement that the liquid is lethal for fish, Amin refused to comment as he claimed that he did not have the particular information.

 “If you said these products will cause itchiness on human skin, then somebody who is sensitive will also feel itchy after they eat prawns,” he added.

According to Amin, the lorry was  conveying the products from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) at the Gebeng industrial zone, near Kuantan, to Port Klang for export to overseas customers.

He further explained that they are not the final product as their customer needs to reprocess them.

He added that the lorry does not belong to Lynas but from a contracted transport company, and the safety, health and environment team of the company had been sent to the scene to clear the liquid.