Incident Report

Subject:                   GERMANY - 16 Firefighters Injured by LPG Gas Explosion in Ludwigshafen

Date of Email report:   Mon 30/09/2013

Report Detail:

         
On business premises in Harthausen in Rhineland-Palatinate , a gas tank exploded injuring 16 fire-fighters. Due to a risk of further explosion 3000 residents were evacuated. There could still be further explosions in the yard of a gas company from a truck that caught fire in the early hours of the morning from unknown reasons, a police spokesman said.  As the fire-fighters approached to put out the fire , there was an explosion of a stationary gas tank. Suddenly, the fire spread from  the  conflagration .  A total of 16 fire-fighters were injured , seven of them were seriously injured.

Several adjacent buildings were damaged . Police estimate that the damage in the millions . The police now includes arson as a possible cause - there is preliminary evidence of a crime ," said Jürgen Schmitt from the police headquarters Rhine Palatinate.
The blast of the explosion was heard up to the 30 kilometres distance in the cities of Ludwigshafen and Mannheim. Paramedics attended to the wounded , the incident drew in emergency services to the accident from a wide area .

total of 450 police officers , fire-fighters and rescue workers were alerted . First buildings were cleared within 500 meters , and shortly afterwards the exclusion zone was extended to a mile - that meant an evacuation of the entire town. The police drove through the town with loudspeakers to inform residents about the evacuation . 

For residents who could not stay with relatives or friends , a shelter in a hall in the neighbouring Dudenhofen was established.

Additional Documentation: