Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

An explosion followed by a fire occurred around 10:00 am on a tank with a nominal capacity of 51,000 m³ containing 35,000 m³ of crude in an oil terminal; the fire quickly spread to an adjacent tank. The inflamed crude then generated a tremendous blackish cloud over 200 m high standing above the petrochemical operations platform and the neighbouring city.

The automatic tank extinction system malfunctioned and emergency team organisation and coordination problems complicated the task at hand: 5 fire-fighting vehicles parked too close to the first tank caught on fire and were totally destroyed by the flames. No measures were adopted to ensure the safety of the nearby population, many of whom panicked and fled the town.

It took 8 days for the fire to be fully contained. The human toll was a heavy one: 2 deaths and 7 injured, with financial losses assessed between 5 and 6 million dollars.

According to the conclusions drawn from the investigations conducted, inflammable gases would have formed above the tank’s floating roof and accumulated at a lower elevation where an internal access path ran. After having stalled due to a lack of oxygen, the engine of the vehicle in which the 2 company employees died started up again and ignited the gas cloud, spreading flames towards the top of the tank.

Six executives working with the oil rig were sanctioned for non-compliance by senior company management, and another 6 who participated in demonstrations held by the local population were fined and convicted with a suspended sentence.