At 7 am., an explosion took place in a 300 m3 above-ground storage tank containing 170 m3 of flammable used solvents. The generated pressure lifted the tank cover and the content of the tank caught fire. One employee was severely injured, 4 others slightly burned ; extensive material damage amounted to 0.5 M euros. The fire brigade managed to extinguish the fire in 1 h, the extinguishing waters were collected.

The gas phase over the stored flammable solvent contained 1 kg of highly flammable liquid from the previous content of tank. This gas phase ignited due to the excessive heating of the stirring bearing of the agitator, caused by a premature worn bearing.

Similar plant systems were examined. Construction changes were made on the agitator of a similar tank and on other plants under construction.