HEALTH and safety officials and airport managers are investigating an accidental fuel spillage that caused chaos for commuters at Newcastle Airport on Tuesday night.
One flight was cancelled and incoming flights had to circle the airport for up to 40 minutes after a tanker overturned causing a spill near a runway.
Fire crews from stations across the city and Gateshead were called in to help the airport's fire service deal with the incident at 7.15pm.
An airport spokesman said: "We do not know why the tanker overturned and that is the subject of an investigation.
"As soon as the incident occurred, we put into place our own procedures for dealing with it."
He said the spillage was contained and no fuel went into any watercourses.
The driver had to be cut from his vehicle and was recovering in hospital last night.
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