Two explosions have taken place this afternoon at a chemical plant on La Canonja industrial estate in Vila-seca, near Tarragona in the south of Catalonia, causing a large fire. The first explosion was in an ethylene oxide tank which caused the second in an electricity substation. The Catalan Civil Protection service was alerted to the incident quickly and put emergency procedures in place.
One fatality has been reported in a building collapse in nearby Torraforta. Reports suggest debris from the explosion entered the building through a window on an upper floor. This caused the floor to collapse, killing a resident in the flat beneath.
Eight others, staff at the plant, have suffered burns in the incident. The two most seriously injured have been transferred to Barcelona's Vall d'Hebron hospital. One, in a less serious condition, is in Tarragona's Joan XXIII Hospital; two, lightly injured, in a hospital in Reus, and the other three were treated on site. One person is missing.
Services were for a time suspended on nearby train lines, including the connections between Tarragona and Reus and Tarragona and Port Aventura, and some roads have been blocked.
Dozens of firefighters are on site, working to control the fire, cool neighbouring storage tanks and search for the missing worker. For the moment, no details of the causes of the explosion are known, or at least none have been announced publicly.
Public warning
Teams from the Catalan territory department report they haven't detected any toxins in the air near the affected area and an earlier confinement order has been lifted. They do, however, recommend that people nearby remain indoors if they notice the presence of smoke as a preventive measure.
The Catalan president, Quim Torra, along with vice-president Pere Aragonès, interior minister Miquel Buch and health minister Alba Verges have travelled to the nearby Reus, from where they are monitoring the situation. Speaking to the press, they urged for calm from the public, stating there is no remaining immediate threat. They also thanked all those who have responded to the incident from the emergency services and different agencies.
The incident in images
A shopping centre security camera captured the moment of the explosion
Firefighters inside the company among the debris from the explosion
The fire rages, seen through two large storage tanks