Nunavut gas spill: Some fear evacuation will be ordered [Video]

A gasoline spill in Nunavut prompted what some officials characterized as an evacuation, although the territory’s government says no evacuation was ordered. 

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The Department of Community and Government Services says an estimated 5,000 litres of fuel spilled because of a tank overfill Monday afternoon in Sanikiluaq, an island community of about 1,000 people in southeast Hudson Bay.

The department says the risk to the community is minimal and no fumes were detected beyond the facility’s containment area.

Nunavut MP Lori Idlout said on Facebook she hoped “the gas leak they experienced forcing them to evacuate” was addressed safely.

But the Nunavut government says it has not issued any form of evacuation notice regarding the leak.

A First Nation in northern Quebec that had been prepared to take in evacuees said it did not receive any flights from Sanikiluaq.

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