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.[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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[...]
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,[...]
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[...]
The vapour space of two 100-m³ heavy fuel oil tanks, both built with stationary and nonflexible roofs, exploded inside a barrack. Welds on the shell/bottom junction were torn apart. The first tank, containing 7 m³ of hydrocarbon, loosened and fell[...]
At 7.10 am, 300 kg of phosphorus trichloride (PCl3) spilled over from a measuring tank during a loading operation and hydrolysed in the sewers of a chemical plant. The day before, 1,320 kg of 2-ethyl-hexanoic acid was introduced into a[...]