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Spill of 1 t of phenol into RHONE River

  • FRANCE
In order to fill a lorry with phenol, an operator undertook the necessary steps but forgot to position the loading arm. The three detectors on the filling station were defective and did not indicate a flaw in the coupling manoeuvre.[...]
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Derailment of gasoline cars

  • FRANCE
A 20-car convoy left a tunnel around 11:30 pm in order to cross a train station when 7 tanks carrying 80 m3 of gasoline derailed. An axle with an overheated roller bearing broke on one of the railcars. Traces on[...]
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Explosion in a refinery

  • FRANCE
An extremely violent explosion occurred at 5:20 am inside a refinery operating normally; this blast, felt up to 30 km away, was followed by several others. The internal emergency plan was activated at 5:45 and rescue teams called to the scene.[...]
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Explosion of an underground explosive storage

  • SUISSE
Around 4:10 pm, six people were killed by the explosion of nearly 300 tonnes of expired munitions and production wastes inside the "Steingletscher" underground storage, located on the slope of the Susten pass facing Bern. The explosion, whose TNT equivalent[...]
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Ammonia leak in a fertilizer production plant

  • FRANCE
At around 6.30 pm, 5 t of ammonia (NH3) was released over a 15-minute period from 2 valves at a height of 8/10 m on equipment used to manufacture an ammonium nitrate solution. 4 persons located at 1,100 m to[...]
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Explosion of a compressor on a nitrous gas circuit

  • FRANCE
Inside a plant specialised in thio-chemistry, an explosion occurred at 9:55 am on a unit undergoing a restart procedure, less than one year after major facility modifications. Following the unintentional intake of ammonia into the oven on an acid nitrosyl[...]
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Explosion on an H2O2 unit

  • FRANCE
An explosion perceived tens of km around and an ensuing fire destroyed 1,000 of the 4,000 m² of a hydrogen peroxide unit (H2O2) located near a series of hydrogen and chlorine tanks. The fire spread into the adjoining sewers, and[...]
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Series of explosions in the city sewers

  • MEXIQUE
An explosion occurred around 10 am in the sewer line of Mexico's second largest city amidst a metropolitan area; this blast was followed by a series of explosions between 10:30 and 11:30 am. Then very early the next morning, two[...]
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Explosion of an ammonia tank

  • SENEGAL
A unconnected tanker truck carrying liquid ammonia (NH3) burst open at an industrial facility. Propelled by chemical reaction, with the front part "of the tanker clipped some of the installations then smashed into the wall of an electrical service building,[...]
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Derailment of TMD tank cars at the station

  • FRANCE
A 28-railcar convoy, with 3 cars carrying hazardous substances, derailed at 2:25 am right at the train station in the middle of the city, just a few tens of metres from the closest residential buildings. The 11-kV drop in cables[...]
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