An explosion ripped through a petrochemicals plant in the southern French city of Toulouse today, killing 18 people and injuring more than 350, 49 of them seriously.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris ruled out a criminal attack, saying the explosion was due to an accident following an incident in the handling of products . Other officials said the exact cause was still not clear.
Police initially urged local people to stay inside their homes as a red cloud was spotted near the factory after the blast at 10:20 a.m. local time. Later tests showed there was no danger of poison and the alert was lifted.
The explosion, at the AZF unit of oil giant TotalFinaElf in an industrial zone on the outskirts of the city, flattened a large area and blew out windows in the city centre. Some 350 employees were in the plant at the time.
Hospital officials said scores were wounded by flying glass, while others were being counselled by psychologists for shock after witnessing scenes reminiscent of September 11's suicide hijack attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.
The first thing that went through my head was -- this is terrorism, one man, wearing a bandage on his head, told the LCI television news station. Both President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin rushed to the scene, where local officials counted a total 358 people injured.
"I wanted to come here straight away of course, first because this is a tragic accident, then because this is Toulouse and my region", Mr Jospin told reporters. At this time, we cannot establish the causes of what is either an accident or something else. An investigation is under way. The force of the blast toppled two chimneys at the plant, which produces nitrogen and phosphate products used in the making of explosives.
Flights to Toulouse, which is also home to aircraft maker Airbus Industrie, were being rerouted to other airports, according to a local crisis emergency centre. Emergency workers blocked streets close to the scene of the blast, causing traffic jams which hampered the movement of emergency service vehicles. Trucks with loudspeakers broadcast messages advising residents to stay indoors.
A spokesman for TotalFinaElf said it did not know the cause of the explosion.