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SPAIN-FIRE-ACCIDENT
One dead, one missing in blast at Spanish chemical plant
MADRID, Jan 15, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – One person was killed, eight others
injured and one reported missing following an explosion and fire at a
chemical plant in northeast Spain on Tuesday, regional authorities said.
The cause of the blast at the IQOXE facility — which specialises in the
production of ethylene oxide, glycol and propylene oxide — was not
immediately known. Spain’s civil protection authority insisted that no toxic
substances had been detected in the surrounding area.
Firefighters moved in to put out the blaze, which was said to have begun
in an ethylene oxide tank, and to “cool down the adjacent tanks”.
Emergency services said eight people had been injured, including two with
severe burns, following the explosion at La Canonja, a town in Tarragona
province.
Video footage showed high flames and columns of smoke around the complex.
The person who was killed had been in a nearby house destroyed in the
blast, the civil protection service said.
The missing person was a worker at the plant.
Local authorities urged residents in the immediate vicinity to remain
indoors, while the civil protection unit said the air was free of toxic
substances.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered “the necessary support” to
the Catalan authorities.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1058 hrs