One person has been injured following a chemical spill in Carbis Bay in Cornwall.
The beach has been shut and schools have been warned to keep pupils indoors.
Emergency services were called to the Carbis Bay area, near St Ives, this morning, where at least one person is having breathing difficulties.
People living in the area have seen "many emergency service vehicles heading to St Ives" since about 10am, Cornwall Live reports.
A spokesperson for Cornwall's Fire and Rescue Service wrote on Twitter: "Crews from St Ives, Penzance, Tolvaddon, St Just are currently in attendance at a large incident in the Carbis Bay area, along with three wholetime officers and colleagues from Devon and Cornwall Police and South Western Ambulance Service."
Were you at Carbis Bay this morning or have you been affected by the chemical spill? Email webnews@mirror.co.uk
The St Ives RNLI team launched the inshore lifeboat this morning at 10.35am following concerns for anyone in the sea..
When the crew arrived at the scene, they saw some people fishing on a rock and advised them of the situation.
One of the crew left the lifeboat to discuss with the on scene coastguard, who advised the crew that the chemical spill was sulphuric acid.
The other crew members actively advised swimmers of the situation and to make their way back to the beach, a few members of the public were experiencing some difficulties breathing, but with the assistance of the crew everyone got safely back to the beach.
Duncan Davison, a resident, told Cornwall Live: “Police came around telling us to all get indoors because they had gone through a pipe and some chemicals came out of it and some people were having breathing difficulties.”
The fire service tweeted: "We are asking people at this time to avoid the Carbis Bay Beach area.
"If you are in this area, please stay indoors and keep all windows closed. More details to follow."
Station manager Des O'Connell said: "What we are dealing with is an unknown chemical that has entered the watercourse and we had one person who had been overcome by the fumes or something.
"It's in the watercourse, for the minute, we found it in the drains.
"We were concerned what that was doing. That's why we have taken the precaution down to Carbis Bay beach. We have located what we believe to be the cause which is hydrogen sulfide, which is a gas, and we have stopped it at the source.
"That's where we are at the minute."
A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: "We are aware of the incident at Carbis Bay, near St Ives, and are working closely with our partners to establish the nature of the situation.
"Fire and rescue teams are currently leading the emergency response to this situation and we urge people to follow their public safety advice that can be found by following @CornwallFRS."
