One person is dead after at least 27 people were taken to hospital following a 30-vehicle crash that caused a hazardous chemical spill on Highway 401, east of Kingston.

The Ontario Provincial Police responded to a multi-vehicle collision around 2 p.m. Tuesday. Their investigation found that there were two separate collisions; the first occurred just east of Hwy 137 and involved five tractor trailers and one car. One of the tractor trailer drivers in the first collision has died of injuries he sustained, according to a press release issued Tuesday evening.

The second collision was about one kilometre west of the first and involved seven tractor trailers and three vehicles. A chain reaction followed the collisions and resulted in several other accidents, said the OPP.

The highway was still closed as of 8 p.m. in both directions around the accident site from Mallorytown Rd. to Reynolds Rd. in the Lansdowne area, east of Kingston.

Kingston General Hospital, one of the hospitals receiving patients from the crash, declared a Code Orange to deal with the accident. It also opened a decontamination bay for those who were exposed to the chemical.

The hazardous material was identified as fluorosilicic acid, which can cause irritation to the nose, throat, respiratory system, swelling of the skin and severe eye irritation, said Meaghan Quinn, spokesperson for Kingston General Hospital.

“Code Orange means that the Kingston General Hospital Emergency Department will be receiving multiple individuals as a result of some external disaster,” said Quinn.

Thirteen of the patients were emergency services first responders who underwent decontamination and were held for observation as a precaution, Quinn said.

Non-critical patients were being re-routed to Hotel Dieu Hospital, which is also in Kingston.

Quinn said the Code Orange was in place even around 8 p.m. because they were treating patients in “non-traditional care areas,” or spaces the hospital normally wouldn’t use.

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By around 5:15 p.m., the site of the multi-vehicle pile up on Highway 401 had been contained, said Elaine M. Mallory, spokesperson for the township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands, in a news release.

No residential properties were affected and there was no risk to the general public, she added.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change was expected to attend the scene, she said.

Barr says a cattle truck involved in the pile-up was also still on the scene Tuesday night as crews waited for another truck to transport the animals.