BASF still searching for missing worker in Germany explosion
Stefan Baumgarten
18-Oct-2016
Emergency officials say the blast probably threw the
worker into a nearby harbour area. Firefighters battle the
blaze at the BASF chemical company facility in Ludwigshafen,
Germany, on Monday, 17 October 2016. (Xinhua News
Agency/REX/Shutterstock)
LONDON (ICIS)–BASF and emergency experts were still
searching for a missing worker on Tuesday afternoon following
the fatal explosion and fire at the
company’s petrochemicals production hub in Ludwigshafen, on
the Rhine river in Germany, on Monday, officials said in an
update.
The explosion probably threw the worker into a nearby
harbour area, most likely killing him, and experts are
using boats and divers in their search for the body, they
said.
The two people confirmed to have died in the blast were
both on-site BASF firefighters, they added.
Eight people suffered serious injuries while 17 suffered less
serious injuries, according to a company update
earlier on Tuesday.
Malu Dreyer, minister president (governor) of BASF’s home
state of Rhineland Palatinate, said in a media briefing that
the company, emergency experts and others “are doing all that
can be done” to ensure that there was no danger to residents
in the area.
“I think that BASF is doing all that is possible,” she added.
She visited fire headquarters in Ludwighafen to get a
first-hand view of the situation.
Air quality measurements found “elevated levels” for some
chemicals substances, and officials recommended that
residents of certain nearby areas – Pfingstweide,
Edigheim, Oppau und Friesenheim – avoid working outdoors or
staying outdoors for prolonged periods, and that they keep
doors and windows shut.
The German chemical major’s full-year earnings may be reduced by as much as 3% as the closure of its two steam crackers and other plants at the hub site affect ethylene and propylene value chains, an investment bank analyst said on Tuesday. Europe’s benzene and styrene spot markets also reacted to the fire on Tuesday.
According to SWR, a German regional
government television and media group, BASF so far this
year reported 11 incidents at Ludwigshafen involving
emissions or technical hiccups.
In its long history at Ludwigshafen, BASF had two
catastrophic accidents: in 1921, more than 560 people died
when an ammonia fertilizer mixture exploded, and in 1948 a
tank railcar exploded, killing 207 people.
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