6 dead in chemical plant explosion in Czech Republic
A fire broke out in a storage tank and there were no reports of further damage, Unipetrol said.
world Updated: Mar 22, 2018 19:03 IST
At least six people died in an explosion at a chemical plant near the Czech Republic’s capital on Thursday, firefighters said.
The explosion took place in the morning at a Unipetrol facility in the town of Kralupy nad Vltavou, north of Prague, the BBC reported.
The cause of the explosion was not yet known.
“We have received information about six dead and several others seriously injured,” fire service spokeswoman Vladimira Kerekova told CTK news agency.
In a brief statement, Unipetrol said a fire broke out in a storage tank and that there was no further danger. Czech TV said there was no risk to residents in Kralupy as the town was some distance from the plant.
The mayor of Kralupy told Czech Television the blast occurred during cleaning of the storage tank.
Unipetrol had been preparing the refinery for maintenance and an upgrade scheduled to run from March 27 to May 9. The facility has an annual capacity of 3.2 million tonnes of oil.
Unipetrol is one of the largest oil distributing companies and producer of plastics in the Czech Republic.
The plant manufactures toughened polystyrene as well as synthetic rubber.