A violent explosion and fire broke out in a gas factory, i.e. an establishment producing manufactured gas and operating the site’s related product distribution and storage activities and LGG brought in from outside the plant.

While unloading 45 tonnes of propane from a tank car, a hose (dia. 50 mm) broke off flush with the tank car valve’s disconnect coupling, causing a leak estimated at 8 kg/s. A mist formed (gas + droplets of liquefied gas). At the time of the accident, there was a light wind (1 m/s) and the temperature was 25°C. Only 5 t of the product had been transferred at the time of the accident. The thick white cloud prevented the operator and 2 witnesses nearby from intervening. The cloud caught fire 4 minutes later as a locomotive was passing. Its 2 occupants were seriously burned and later died from their injuries. The irruption of the cloud caused several fires to break out, located several dozen meters downwind. The police evacuated residents living in a radius of approximately 200 m, notably a school and a home for the elderly. The fire menaced the site’s 2 cylinders (100 m³ each), 2 spheres (500 m³ each), 2 gasometers (10,000 m³ and 4,000 m³), another propane tank car, and petrol storage tanks. The leak fuelled the fire and eventually engulfed the tank car that originally created the accident. Despite the efforts by the rescue services, the tank care exploded (BLEVE) 40′ after the leak had begun.

Property damage was extensive: unloading terminals were destroyed, gasometers caught fire, and the heat lagging of the spheres was partially ripped away. The police extended the evacuation zone to 450 m.

The response teams were destabilised (among the team members hospitalised within 10 minutes, 17 suffered from burns) and resumed their efforts only an hour later. They attempted to move the petrol tank and the 2nd tank car, and close the valves that were fuelling the fire. The various fires were extinguished approximately 4½ hours after the explosion. The accident left 2 dead and 49 injured, 11 among the personnel, 18 among the firemen (4 of whom were seriously injured), 23 passers-by and local residents (burns, fractures, flying glass, amputation of phalanges). Gas distribution was interrupted for 20,000 subscribers. Approximately 1,100 accident claims were established. Significant damage was located in a radius of 300 m around the tank car, with a lesser degree of damage in a radius of 500 m, while broken glass was observed 1,000 m away.