Some 2,300 residents in central Bulgaria were evacuated overnight after toxic gas escaped from a lorry following a road accident, authorities said.

A cloud of styrene gas, used for the manufacturing of plastic, was released over the town of Debelets after a Turkish lorry traveling to Romania crashed near the town.

As a precaution, some 2,300 residents were evacuated overnight and early Monday, the authorities said.

Environment protection services were closely monitoring the toxic cloud and fire fighters continued to spray the lorry to limit the risk of explosion, as temperatures were expected to hit 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day.

However, no serious respiratory problems had yet been reported, mayor Dimitar Dimitrov said.

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