TEXAS CITY, TEXAS
A furnace at the BP refinery has exploded and burned, sending 10 people to a hospital for treatment of exposure to chemicals.
The furnace fire followed
multiple blasts that rocked the Houston Ship Channel-area petrochemical
complex about 6:30 p.m. Tuesday was fuelled by naphtha, a petroleum
feed stock used at the refinery, said the Texas City Emergency Management
Director.
Regulatory agencies will conduct investigations into the incident,
which forced the evacuation of the plant for several hours Tuesday night.
"There was a boom,
followed by two more booms," said an office worker, who was in
his office at Trey Industries not far from the refinery when the blasts
occurred. "It shook the whole building." The Texas City Emergency
Management Director said an internal investigation was also under way,
following a heightened security alert from recent reports from the FBI
and industry groups that refineries in this area might be targeted by
terrorists. "That was one of our first concerns" with the
blasts, he told the Texas City Sun in Wednesday's editions. "But
there is no indication of that, none at all."
Ten people reported to Mainland
Centre Hospital complaining of exposure, said a spokesman. He said a
decontamination area had been set up in case dangerous chemicals had
been released into the air. BP spokeswoman Annie Smith said operations
resumed late Tuesday.
The blasts prompted an early ending to high school baseball and softball
action between the Texas City Stings and the La Marque Cougars. Texas City's junior varsity baseball team, which had been in La Marque for
a game, sheltered in place at the student centre at College of the Mainland. Some College of the Mainland evening classes were dismissed.
The Texas City refinery is the largest of BP's four refineries in the
Houston area. It has the capacity to refine 435,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
The Associated Press
Posted: Wednesday March 31st, 2004, 3:44 AM
Last Updated: Wednesday March 31st, 2004, 6:17 AM
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