One dead, four missing as Leverkusen chems park fire under control

LONDON (ICIS)–One employee at the Leverkusen, Germany, chemicals park has died in an explosion and fire that occurred at the site on Tuesday morning, operator Currenta said, with four others missing as of 13:45 (12:45 BST) local time.

The fire, which broke out at the site’s Burrig waste disposal complex following an explosion, has been extinguished, with rescue workers searching the site for the missing personnel.

16 people are known to be injured so far, at least two seriously, according to Chempark management.

“We are deeply saddened  by this tragic accident and the death of an employee,” said Chempark manager Lars Friedrich.

Germany’s Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) downgraded the danger level from extreme to moderate as of midday local time, but orders for residents to remain indoors with windows shut and air conditioning systems off remain in place.

Bayer, LANXESS and Covestro are among the players with operations in the area, with a spokesperson for LANXESS  confirming that power supply to the Chempark is currently restricted, and that all company facilities have been brought down as a precautionary measure.

“The event has not yet had any further impact on LANXESS,” the spokesperson said.

“Based on the current information, we do not expect any substantial economic impact as a result of the event.”

Bayer, Covestro and BASF had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Post-extinguishing work is currently taking place at the site, according to BBK.

Stretches of motorways around the region have been shut down, according to the Cologne fire department, but there is no danger at present to the nearby city.

Front page picture: Smoke billowing from the Leverkusen chemicals park shortly after the explosion
Source: Sascha Steinbach/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

(Update adds latest details of incident, LANXESS comment)

Clarification: recasts site operators in paragraph six