A leak occurred on a 10-inch ethylene tube at 45 bar following an electrochemical corrosion of an above ground section and an underground section protected by a protective sheath. It took 20 min to shut the isolation valves (2 km). Despite the safety perimeter set up, a vehicle from an outside company in the vicinity stalled, ignited the smoke upon re-starting and lit a 15 m flare turned towards a 6 m high rack supporting 10 pipes. A second 6-inch ethylene pipeline ruptured and caught fire. A section of the latter fell near the first pipeline that exploded. The fire spread to a warehouse storing 22 m³ of solvents in barrels and 1,000 tonnes of synthetic rubber 20 m away. The quantity of ethylene involved in the accident was assessed to be 32 tonnes. Four people sustained injuries including one person who was severely burnt. Production losses stood at 220 MF. In January 2004, due to lack of maintenance of the pipelines in question, the former site manager was given a 10-month suspended sentence and fined 8,000 Euros, a first-line supervisor of the company operating the ethylene pipeline was given a 6-month suspended sentence and fined 1,000 Euros, an engineer of the same company received an 8-month suspended sentence and was fined 3,000 euros. Five other people facing prosecution were discharged.