Germany: Deadly blast hits Leverkusen chemical site
One person has died and at least 31 have been injured after an explosion rocked a chemical plant in Leverkusen. Operators of the site say it’s not yet clear what caused the blast.
The explosion sent plumes of dark smoke into the sky as residents were advised to remain indoors
A blast followed by a fire hit a chemical industrial park in the western German city of Leverkusen Tuesday, leaving one dead and several injured.
Four people are missing.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic accident and the death of an employee,” Chempark site operator Currenta said in a statement
“We hope that we can rescue the missing people alive,” Lars Friedrich, the head of Chempark, said at a press conference.
“This is a tragic moment for the city of Leverkusen,” said the city’s mayor, Uwe Richrath.
Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance classified the explosion as “an extreme threat,” and the blast registered at a seismological station 40 kilometers (25 miles) away, according to Germany’s dpa news agency.
A large number of emergency services responded to the blast
Currenta said the explosion occurred at a tank farm that is part of its facility and that the fire had been put out. It added that a search was underway for four employees who were missing. Thirty-one others were injured in the blast, four of them seriously.
Chempark urged residents of Leverkusen, which lies 20 kilometers north of Cologne, to “go indoors and keep doors and windows closed.”
Officials as far away as Dortmund, approximately 75 kilometers to the northeast of Leverkusen, advised residents there to do likewise.
Emergency services describe ‘major damage’
The Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper reported the incident occurred when three tanks containing organic solvents caught fire at a garbage incineration plant in the chemical park, located in the Bürrig neighborhood.
Residents said the blast was heard far and wide
Police in Cologne tweeted that they were closing several motorways because of “major damage.”
Firefighters and pollution detection vehicles have been dispatched to the scene.
Residents said the blast could be heard from some distance, with some reporting that the force of the explosion had rattled their windows.
It is unclear what caused the blast.
Bayer, one of Germany’s largest chemical manufacturers, is headquartered in Leverkusen, a city of around 163,000 residents.
ar/nm (Reuters, AP)
Source:dw.com/en