A huge explosion ripped through AZF (Azote de France) fertiliser factory in an industrial zone on the outskirts of Toulouse, southwest of France, at 10:15 am, last Friday 21 September 2001. For the moment, 31people are reported dead The total number of injuries is said to be 2,442. More than 350 people were in the plant at the time (266 AZF employees and 100 subcontractors).

The explosion had occurred in a warehouse in which granular ammonium nitrate was stored flat, separated by partitions. The amount is said to be between 200 to 300 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, which is used to make fertilisers. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris ruled out a criminal attack, saying the explosion had been caused by an accident following an "incident in the handling of products". The exact cause remains unknown.

AZF (formerly named ONIA) is the name under which Grande Paroisse, France's largest fertiliser manufacturer, sells its products. Grande Paroisse is owned by Atofina, the chemicals unit of TotalFinaElf - the world's fourth-biggest oil group.

The AZF site is one of 1,250 factories in France classified as high-risk. The site falls under the rules of the European Union's Seveso Directive.


The AZF Toulouse Plant in France

The AZF plant was opened in 1924 in what was then countryside, but the urban sprawl from Toulouse led to homes being built close to the plant's giant chimney stacks.

AZF is located near two other chemical works, Tolochimie and explosives maker SNPE (Societe Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs), and upwind from the suburbs it adjoins.

With a population of 700.000, Toulouse France's fourth city has grown rapidly over the last thirty years to become Europe's Space and Aviation capital, France's first university campus after Paris, and one of the country's leading research centres.

For more information on Toulouse click here


Impact

• The blast blew out windows in the city centre 3 km away and created a 50 meter- diameter crater with more than 10 meters deep
  
  
• Telephone lines were immediately cut and the lines were affected as far as 100 km away.
  
  
• Experts said the explosion was the equivalent to an earthquake measuring 3.4 on the Richter scale.
  
  
• More than 500 homes became uninhabitable and almost 11,000 pupils are staying at home after some 85 schools and colleges were damaged.
  
  
• 22 people were killed on the site, 6 nearby and 1 died in hospital, regional officials said.
  
  
• The force of the blast toppled two chimneys at the chemicals plant, which produces nitrogen and phosphate products used in the making of explosives.
  
  
• The director of an ammunition factory nearby, owned by the Societe Nationale des Poudres et Explosifs, said there had been a second, lesser explosion there as a result of the original blast at neighbouring AZF, but nobody was injured.
  
  
• An electrical goods store 300 meters from the AZF plant collapsed 45 minutes after the explosion. A nearby school was evacuated amid fears it too would collapse.
  
  
• Flights to Toulouse were rerouted to other airports, according to a local crisis emergency centre.
  
  
• Up to 6,300 tonnes of liquefied ammonia, 6,000 tonnes of solid ammonium nitrate and 30,000 tonnes of solid fertiliser were kept at the installation. Up to 100 firefighters searched for survivors through the wreckage from the blast, piled up to 10 meters high in some places.
  
  
• A red cloud was seen near the factory following the blast on Friday. Police initially urged local people to stay inside their homes, because they thought it could be an ammonia leak, though later tests showed there was no danger of poisoning and the alert was lifted.

Sources: Planet Ark Environmental News; Le Monde, Le Figaro, Liberation, BBC news, CNN news, The Guardian and The Times.


Cause of the Accident

The exact cause still remains unknown.

The ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse consisted of:

• industrial nitrates that did not meet commercial specifications and had been bulk stored after the bags which they were packaged "cracked", and
  
  
• ammonium nitrate recovered from the production unit.

Under normal storage conditions, ammonium nitrate is inert and does not comprise risks. Only an increase in temperature (between 160 ¡ãC and 200 ¡ãC) can cause an explosion.

Senior management has set up an internal committee to investigate the explosion and determine the causes. The committee members are experts from Grande Paroisse and Atofina and an outside expert from Societe Nationale de Poudres et Explosifs.

In addition, the Toulouse public prosecutor began investigating the possibility of bringing charges for "involuntary assault and battery" on September 24. The investigations are being carried out jointly by the regional police and two legal experts.


How to get more official information

Total (information in French)

Atofina (information in English)

French Environment Ministry

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