“Flipped truck spills sulfuric acid into Lao tributary of Mekong River” 5 April 2024

A tanker truck carrying sulfuric acid from northwestern Laos to a Chinese rare earth mining company flipped over on Wednesday, spilling its contents into a tributary of two major rivers and devastating the local ecosystem, residents said...

An eyewitness to the spill...told RFA Lao that the acid had flowed into an area creek before continuing downstream to the Khan River, which passes through the town of Luang Prabang, and into the Mekong River...

“All kinds of fish, both big and small, have died,” he said, noting that authorities had issued a provincial-wide ban on entering the rivers, collecting water to drink from them, or eating locally caught fish...

The truck had been transporting the sulfuric acid from a plant in Oudomxay province to China's Kuang Jian Sin Sengsavang Rare Earth Development Company in Xieng Khouang province.

RFA spoke with an employee of the plant that produced the sulfuric acid in the flipped tanker who said that once the chemicals are loaded for transport, their company is no longer liable for any accidents. “At that point, it's the shipping and mining companies that are responsible,” he said.

“However, we’re monitoring the impact of the spill on the people and the environment,” he added, noting that the site of the accident had been cleared by midnight on Wednesday...

Attempts by RFA to contact Kuang Jian Sin Sengsavang Rare Earth Development Company, the Chinese mining company, went unanswered by the time of publication...