Deadly spill of sulphuric acid in west Queensland

Floodwaters were hampering emergency officials’ efforts to clean up a remote site in northeast Australia where a freight train carrying sulphuric acid derailed a day earlier.

The train was carrying around 200,000 litres of the highly corrosive acid when it derailed near the small town of Julia Creek in western Queensland state on Sunday, police said in a statement.

A small amount of acid and diesel fuel spilled and all 26 carriages came off the tracks, police said.