A SWIMMING pool had to be evacuated and the surrounding area cordoned off after a chemical spill.

About ten swimmers were evacuated from Guisborough Swimming Pool on Saturday morning after about 50 litres of sodium hypochloride leaked from a boiler room pipe.

Firefighters wearing chemical protection suits spent two hours plugging the leak and transferring the liquid into drums. The pool, in Howlbeck Road, remained closed for the rest of the day but reopened yesterday morning.

Leading firefighter Carl Pearson said: "Pool staff knocked an overspill pipe which caused the leakage. It was nowhere near the pool but the swimmers had been evacuated by the time we arrived, as a precautionary measure. Police had to cordon off the area too."

Swimming pool duty officer David Ashbridge said: "The pipe was leaking slowly but there was 1,000 litres of the chemical in the storage tank so if it had burst we would have been in a major situation."