150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate contained in a silo exploded, causing several hundred deaths and major property damage. The explosion was caused by a blast detonated with explosives, which was part of customary practice for masses of aggregated nitrate. Such a practice using explosives had in fact been commonplace at this plant for the purpose of disaggregating raw potassium chloride; on the day of the accident, an unsuspecting worker thought the same technique could be applied to ammonium nitrate.