Guwahati News Desk: Germany’s western city of Leverkusen, on Tuesday, witnessed a severe explosion that rocked an industrial park housing several chemical companies.
The explosion occurred at the waste management facility of the Chempark site, which houses chemical companies including Bayer and Lanxess.
The timing of the explosion is being said to be around 09:40 am (07:40 GMT).
As informed by the authorities, the blast occurred in the storage tanks for solvents and so, it sent a large black cloud into the air and sparked a terrifying fire.
Fire-fighters reached the spot to tackle the furious blaze and it took them almost four hours to extinguish the fire that took hold after the blast.
Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance initially classified the incident as “an extreme threat” and urged people to shelter inside, with windows and doors closed.
Meanwhile, 31 people were seriously injured in the blast and five were missing. However, as per the recent reports, the explosion has resulted in the death of two-person.
The head of Chempark, Lars Friedrich, stated, “We are deeply concerned about this tragic accident and the death of our employee.”
The fire department in the nearby city of Cologne tweeted that measurements of the air’s pollution did not show any kind of abnormality and informed that even though the smoke went down, they would continue to measure the air for toxins.
The police in Cologne, further informed that a large number of officers, fire-fighters, helicopters, and ambulances from across the region had been deployed to the scene.
