KIEV, July 19 (RIA Novosti) - Ukraine has temporarily banned transportation of yellow phosphorus through the country until the cause of a recent toxic spill from a train is established, the transport minister said Thursday.
A freight train carrying yellow phosphorus, a highly toxic and flammable substance that can cause death if ingested even in very small doses, derailed and caught fire late Monday in western Ukraine's Lvov Region.
Mykola Rudkovskiy told a briefing that that valves regulating pressure in several of the phosphorus cisterns had been found to be damaged, and said authorities were studying how this could have affected the situation.
Over 140 people asked for medical help after the accident. Ukrainian authorities called the incident the country's largest man-made disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl tragedy, but said that no neighboring countries were in danger.
