HazardEx - Regional News

Ghana fish cannery blast kills two 13 June 2017

An explosion at a fuel pump at the Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC), a tuna canning company, killed two persons and left five others with burn injuries on May 11, according to local sources. A fuel pump that connects the steam boiler facility at the company’s production plant developed a fault and was being replaced when sparks from welding work ignited fuel leaking from the pump. ...

South African refinery blast injures 11 22 May 2017

On May 22, a blast at the Natref oil refinery injured 11 people, according to a statement by plant co-owner Sasol. The 108,000 barrel per day refinery, situated in Sasolburg south of Johannesburg, remains operational but facilities in the vicinity of the hydrogen compressors where the blast occurred have been closed down....

Explosion kills at least 29 illegals in South African gold mine 19 May 2017

An explosion on May 11 reportedly killed dozens of illegal miners in Harmony Gold’s Eland mine in Welkom, Free State, local authorities announced on May 12. A week later, 29 bodies had been recovered from the closed mine, local media said, with some of the bodies dragged for 13km through underground tunnels by rescuers to bring the bodies to the surface. ...

Ghana road tanker explosion hospitalises more than 150 15 May 2017

On May 9 a road tanker near the Olam Oil depot in Takoradi, south-western Ghana, caught fire and exploded. More than 150 were injured in the blast and were taken to the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital and the Takoradi Government Hospital. Some of the injured are said to have suffered second-degree burns with a few referred to the Cape Coast Hospital....

Anti-piracy NGO says West Africa, Somalia and South-East Asia remained problem areas in 2016 03 May 2017

A report issued on May 2 by anti-piracy NGO Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) found an upsurge in pirate activity in some areas, and residual problems in areas where previous years had seen a reduction in piracy. The 2016 State of Maritime Piracy report includes analyses of the situation in the Western Indian Ocean, West Africa, Asia, and Latin America and the Caribbean....

UK High Court rules Shell cannot be sued in London for Nigeria oil spills 26 January 2017

Royal Dutch Shell cannot be sued in London over oil spills in Nigeria, the High Court ruled on January 26. Villagers from the Bille and Ogale communities in the oil-producing Niger Delta in southern Nigeria had said they were affected by pollution and had sought to take action against Shell in London rather than its subsidiary in Nigeria....

More than 30 killed after Ugandan road tanker explodes in Kenya 12 December 2016

More than 30 people died when a fuel tanker crashed into other vehicles and burst into flames outside the town of Naivasha in Kenya late on December 10, local officials told AFP. A spokesperson for Kenya's National Disaster Unit said the death toll was 33 the following day, but that other bodies could be found....

Mozambique road tanker explosion fatalities rise to 80 22 November 2016

Some 80 people died and a further 108 were injured in an explosion and fire next to a road tanker in Tete province, in the country's remote western region near Malawi. One local journalist told AFP the truck had crashed on November 16 and exploded the following day as scores of people tried to syphon off fuel....

Nigerian Navy says it stopped refinery attack by militants 04 October 2016

THE Nigerian Navy said a loud blast on September 29 near the jetty of the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC) and the Pipeline Products Marketing Company (PPMC) resulted from a foiled attempt by militants to attack both facilities in Ekpan, Uvwie council area, Delta state. ...

Benin garbage dump blast kills two, injures 61 12 September 2016

An explosion at a garbage dump near Cotonou, Benin, killed at least two people and injured 61, according to AFP. Cotonou police said the September 9 incident was caused by a company dumping flour and spoiled wheat and dousing it with petrol to burn it. Local people tried to recover the flour from areas that were not burning but were caught in an explosion....