State environmental authorities are investigating a chemical spill that caused a fish kill near the Shelby/Bartholomew County line.

A farmer was transporting a trailer of nitrogen fertilizer and ran off the road while attempting to let a vehicle pass on the narrow county road Wednesday afternoon, according to conservation officers with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. That was on Shelby County Road 1200 South, east of State Road 9.

Conservation officers say part of the fertilizer went into a tributary of Little Tough Creek in Flat Rock. DNR and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management took steps to contain the chemical, but a small fish kill occurred.