It was a sight local residents are not used to...a mysterious purple cloud over the Ohio River.

The source of the cloud...a leak of molten iodine from DuPont Washington Works.

"We are aware that it was very heavily iodine-oriented, by the purple color to the vapor cloud," says plant manager Bill Hopkins.

There were reports of cloud sightings form South Parkersburg, but also from Belpre and Little Hocking.

Employees of a Little Hocking convienence store heard it from their customers.

"It started out as a little purple cloud, and expanded to a bigger one," said Dawn Caplinger, an employee of the Par-Mar store on Route 50. "Some of them said they got calls from their supervisor saying it was like an iodine cloud."

"I looked behind me, and there was this big purple cloud," said store employee Judy Dicken. "The first thing I thought was, Kraton blew up again."

But the leak was from across the river, although the direction of the wind directed it beyond the confines of the plant.

"The cloud went to the northeast area, out over the Ohio River," Hopkins says. "It did dissipate quickly, we really don't think it went out into the Parkersburg or any of those areas."

While Washington Works employees were sheltered from the leak, no shelter order was issued for the surrounding area.

Washington works manager Hopkins says the production area of the plant where the leak occurred was shut down while the leak is under investigation.

The accident did not affect production in any other plant areas.