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Anonymous ID: 2bd847 July 27, 2021, 10:04 a.m. No.14208778   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>8809

Explosion at German chemical complex declared 'extreme threat,' several injured

 

BERLIN – An explosion at an industrial park for chemical companies shook the German city of Leverkusen on Tuesday, sending a large black cloud rising into the air. Several people were injured, and five were missing.

 

The Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance classified the explosion as “an extreme threat” and asked residents to stay inside and keep windows and doors closed, German news agency dpa reported.

 

Operators of the Chempark site in Leverkusen, about 13 miles north of Cologne on the Rhine river, said the cause of the explosion was unclear.

 

Currenta, the company that operates the chemical park, said in a statement that several employees were injured, at least two of them severely.

 

Police in Cologne said they did not have any information on the cause or size of the explosion, but a large number of police, firefighters, helicopters and ambulances were deployed to the scene. They asked all residents to stay inside and warned people outside Leverkusen to avoid the region.

 

They shut down several nearby major highways.

 

Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger, a daily newspaper, reported that the explosion took place in the Buerrig neighborhood at a garbage incineration plant of the chemical park.

 

The paper reported that the smoke cloud moved northwest toward the towns of Burscheid and Leichlingen. Firefighters from all over the region were called in to help extinguish the fire.

 

Leverkusen is home to Bayer, one of Germany’s biggest chemical companies. The city has about 163,000 residents and borders Cologne, which is Germany's fourth-biggest city and has about 1 million inhabitants. Many residents work at Bayer, one of the biggest employers in the region.

 

The scene of the explosion, the chemical park, is very close to the banks of the Rhine river.

 

Currenta has three facilities in the region. More than 70 different companies are based at the locations in Leverkusen, Dormagen and Krefeld-Uerdingen.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2021/07/27/explosion-german-chemical-complex-declared-extreme-threat/5383156001/