15 injured in explosion at world’s largest chemical complex
30 July 2024
An explosion and subsequent fire left 15 people injured at BASF’s Ludwigshafen chemical complex in Germany on 29 July. The chemical giant said in a statement that an organic solvent leak led to an explosion and subsequent fire, injuring 15 employees at the world’s largest integrated chemical complex.
Image: BASF
In its statement, BASF said that the 15 employees were slightly injured and received treatment at the facility's medical centre. BASF’s on-site fire department managed to bring the fire under control and extinguished it at around 12:45 local time.
BASF said that there were no signs of air, water or soil contamination following the incident and that the plant was shut down and was in a safe condition. The company did not say when operations at the site would resume.
An investigation into the incident has already been opened with BASF working with German police to determine the circumstances leading up to the explosion.
This is the second process safety incident to have happened at BASF’s Ludwigshafen plant in recent months after a hydrogen leak ignited on 30 April. The fire was quickly extinguished by the company’s own fire brigade. The chemical giant said in a statement that there were no injuries as a result of the incident, however part of the facility had to be shut down.
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