A French court launched a criminal probe today into four workers at a chemical plant who may be charged with involuntary homicide for chemical plant blast that killed 30 people last year.
The four people were among 11 employees and sub-contractors who were detained yesterday and questioned for their involvement in the September 21 blast at the AZF complex in the southern city of Toulouse.
The four were allowed to walk free after they appeared before judges and were placed under investigation, a step that can lead to formal charges under the French judicial system.
The move came one week after the publication of an experts' report that said the explosion was caused by a "chemical accident" resulting from chlorine-based products being wrongly stocked in a hangar containing ammonium nitrate.
The report also pointed to irregularities in the factory's safety operations.
The massive blast, described as France's worst post-war industrial disaster, killed 30 people and injured another 2,500. It left a crater 50 metres (165 feet) wide, and damaged thousands of homes and businesses in Toulouse's southern suburbs.
French oil giant TotalFinaElf, the owner of the plant, announced in April that it was closing the complex after a series of street demonstrations by locals.
Since Tuesday, around 100 workers at the plant held a demonstration to protest their colleagues' detention.
Union representative Marc Gianotti said the police interrogation was "premature," adding that the charges being investigated have nothing to do with the explosion.
AFP