BY IAN CROUCH
A leaking fuel tanker has sparked a major Hazmat incident at Sandy Hollow in the Upper Hunter.
Newcastle Fire Command says emergency services were called to the Golden Highway just after 3.30am on Monday where a tanker carrying 12,500 litres of diesel had ruptured, spilling fuel at the rate of 200 litres per minute.
Around 5000 litres has gone into the storm water system.
Crews managed to shift the tanker to a nearby service station which opened at 5 o'clock where the remaining load of fuel was successfully decanted into a large storage tank.
The highway was closed briefly but has now re-opened.
The Environment Protection Authority has been called to the incident.
