Blasts rock French chemical plant

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Blasts rock French chemical plant

Several dead, scores injured in Toulouse blast The scene of devastation after a deadly explosion rocked the AZF petrochemichal factory in the southwestern French city of Toulouse on Friday. NBC NEWS AND WIRE REPORTS TOULOUSE, France, Sept. 21 — A huge explosion, apparently accidental, ripped through a chemical fertilizer plant in the southern French city of Toulouse on Friday, reportedly causing as many as 15 deaths and more than 200 injured. Windows were knocked out across the city. PHONE LINES WERE down to the Toulouse area, and police closed off the area. There were fears that plumes of smoke drifting over the city could be toxic. Residents reported a strong odor of ammonia.

The Toulouse subway was evacuated, and officials urged residents to stay inside their homes.

Officials did not immediately give a death toll. TF1 television reported 15 deaths; other media reports cited at least 10 deaths, with more than 200 injured, about 50 seriously. Phone service to Toulouse was heavily disrupted and calls to the chemical plant, the prefect and other officials did not go through. Some residents were trying to leave the city, causing large traffic jams at exits.

“We thought it was a plane exploding,” said Sandra Muller, a mother of three reached by The Associated Press. “All the houses trembled.” Muller, who lives about 15 miles from the site, said a neighbor had returned from the direction of the blast with the windows of his car blown out. JOSPIN HEADS TO CITY

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was on his way to the scene.

The regional prefect, Hubert Fournier, said “there are numerous victims surely, but it’s impossible to say how many.” Speaking on French radio, he wouldn’t comment on the cause of the explosion, which occurred at about 10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. ET) at the AZF chemical plant, the biggest fertilizer producer in France and Europe’s third-largest.

The blast appeared to be accidental, officials told French radio. Toulouse is home to Airbus as well as Arianespace, the European Space Agency’s commercial arm.

Officials asked people to remain inside their homes as a precaution. However, Fournier said there was “no trace of toxicity” detected in the fumes.

Just after the mid-morning blasts, witnesses told The Associated Press, hundreds of people fled into the streets. The force of the blast blew out hundreds of windows in the city. Panic spread as people, unnerved by last week’s attacks on the United States, ran for cover.

“I heard two booms,” a woman told the television station M6. “There was panic in the street, it was terrible. There is some sort of dust in the air. It’s scary.” “I was on a freeway going towards the airport, and then I saw a big cloud, a big yellow mushroom that seemed to be sulfur,” one witness, a Toulouse businessman who wasn’t named, told French radio. MORE EXPLOSIONS POSSIBLE

Earlier, France Info reported that a second explosion took place inside a shopping center in the center of the city.

The force of the plant blasts toppled two chimneys at the plant. “The whole town heard it. Everybody left the building. Phone lines are no longer working,” said a receptionist at Airbus facilities on the outskirts of Toulouse, which was not affected by the explosions. NBC’s Nancy Ing, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

-- PHO (owennos@bigfoot.com), September 21, 2001


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