At the beginning of the disaster, a gas pocket that is kindled. A strong explosion occurred Wednesday morning shortly before 10 am in the ArcelorMittal plant in Grande-Synthe, near Dunkirk in the north.
According to La Voix du Nord, local residents heard a series of explosions, heard several kilometers from the plant. The photos posted on Twitter mounted an intense cloud of black smoke that escapes from a part of the building. The incident caused no casualties.
The incident took place on the blast furnace No. 4 (HF4) and the 132 people who worked on this installation were evacuated, reported at a press briefing the site director Philippe Valette . Commotionnées slightly, three of them were supported by relief, did he detailed.
“The incident was caused by a gas pocket that had accumulated in the blast furnace and which was ignited on contact with air,” reported the site director. The event, “it is fortunately rare, is not exceptional and experienced teams,” said Branch, based in the Paris region and said the damage is “limited.” This had already happened once in Grande-Synthe, as Philippe Valette.
The inflammation of this pocket of gas caused an explosion but the fire that ensued was quickly extinguished by firefighters, quickly arrived on the scene. 37 firemen specialized in treating this type of incident, rushed to the nearby barracks of Fort-Mardyck, were deployed on the spot and nine vehicles. The intervention of the relief lasted only an hour, said the head of the fire brigade, Captain Cedric Desaegher.
In another incident on the same site
blast furnace No. 4 is “starting up” after being detained for three weeks. La Voix du Nord recalled that last week, a statement from the CGT had rebelled against the flaws in the building’s security. “On the night of April 27 to 28 in the restart phase of the blast furnace 4, for unknown reasons, the melt was projected through nozzles located several meters above the sunken hole” wrote the union.
The incident did not cause explosion had taken place and no injuries, but had narrowly missed burn employees. “It is feared that this event would have caused many casualties during the day,” concluded the CGT in a statement.
Leader of special steels for the automotive and oil industry, ArcelorMittal has three big factories in France in Dunkirk (North), Hagondange (Moselle, is) and Fos-sur-Mer (Bouches du-Rhône, south-east). Management indicated that the site of Dunkerque Grande-Synthe has 3 200 employees and 250 temporary workers. The HF4 product normally 9700 tons of pig iron daily.
No comments:
Post a Comment