Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

2,100 tonnes of wheat and 1,000 tonnes of maize spilled over to the ground at around 1.30 following the rupture of the walls of a 14,900 m³ “sheeting pile” silo built in 1989 and comprising 6 square storage bins (4 x 3 000 m³ + 2 x 1 400 m³) as well as two 66 m³ grain loading hoppers. A 95 m³ propane tank situated at about 15 m from the silo and supplying the grain dryer was partially buried due to the spilling of the grains causing a pipeline to break and LPG to leak by domino effect. The emergency services set up a safety perimeter (150 x 300 m) and stopped the leak by closing the valve located just before the rupture area. The owner of the tank secured the container by emptying it and burning the gas using the flare network. The operation started at 6.00 pm and ended the following day at 5.00 am. No casualties were reported. An emergency prefectoral order recommended measures to secure the site and mainly stop all activity, shut down and monitor the premises, empty the cereal silo and inspect its condition. The re-commissioning of the silo was subject to a prefectoral decision.

Download the detailed report in .pdf format (223 Kb)