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SALT LAKE CITY — Two people were burned Tuesday in a chemical spill at a University of Utah medical research building.
After the incident, the pair walked into the emergency room at the University of Utah Hospital, said Salt Lake fire spokeswoman Audra Sorensen. The Emma Eccles Jones Medical Research Building remained under evacuation late Tuesday as hazmat crews cleaned the third-floor laboratory where the spill took place.
"It will be a couple of hours before people are allowed back in the building," Sorensen said Tuesday evening.
Sorensen added she did not know the extent of the burns the two people sustained or whether the pair were students. The reaction came from fuming nitric acid, which is highly concentrated, corrosive and very toxic to inhale, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It was not immediately clear how much of the chemical spilled.
No other injuries were reported.
