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A truck carrying highly toxic chemicals exploded in the wee hours on Saturday after being rear-ended on a high way, killing one person, and injuring two others.
The accident happened at 03:35 around 20 km away from Tianshui City of northwest China's Gansu Province.
When the truck, with 41 tons of "phosphorus pentasulfide" was heading for Baiyin City of Gansu from Mianyang City of southwest China's Sichuan Province, another truck running in the same direction crashed into it, causing a big fire.
The fire was put out at around 08:20.
As the "phosphorus pentasulfide" would disintegrate into phosphoric acid and hydrogen sulfide, a poisonous gas, after being hydrolyzed, part of the city was shrouded with white smog.
As of 10:30, the local environmental authorities said that the air quality in the urban area returned to normal.
The accident is now still under investigation.