Explosion in Chempark Leverkusen in 2021

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Panorama over the scene, picture from 2017, view from the north
Aerial photo of the site of the explosion (2016, view from the northwest)

The explosion in Chempark Leverkusen occurred on the morning of July 27, 2021 in the Currenta waste disposal center , which is located at the northern end of Chempark Leverkusen . It shook the area beyond the city. A tank farm caught fire in the disposal center of the Currenta company in the Wiesdorf district . At least five employees died in the explosion; 31 people were injured, five of them with fatal burns. Two people are missing.

explosion

On the morning of July 27, 2021, three tanks, each 300 to 400 cubic meters in size, containing liquid production waste from the chemical industry , including various chlorinated and non-chlorinated solvents , caught fire .

At 9:38 a.m., a major explosion occurred that killed at least five people and injured over 30 other people. It shook the entire city of Leverkusen and could also be heard in distant Bergisch Gladbach and in Cologne on both sides of the Rhine . Seismic systems registered an earthquake with a magnitude of 0.8. A column of smoke grew over the district and moved north. Three hundred forces the plant fire Currenta and fire departments Leverkusen and Cologne were in use.

The police cordoned off a large area; Nearby motorways were also affected (parts of the A 1 and A 3 around the Leverkusen motorway junction and the A 59 ).

According to the North Rhine-Westphalian Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), there was a risk of explosion in another tank, which contained 100 cubic meters of highly flammable, toxic waste. However, the fire brigade was able to avert its explosion.

At 9:51 a.m., a regional warning was sent to the NINA warning app via the modular warning system operated by the BBK ; the city issued a warning about disaster control sirens ("extreme danger"). The WDR reported at 11:51 a.m. that the warning announcement had been extended to the city of Solingen in the Aufderhöhe and Ohligs area.

The cloud of smoke moved over Leverkusen, Leichlingen, Solingen, Remscheid, Mettmann, Wuppertal, Wülfrath, Heiligenhaus, Hattingen, Bochum and Essen.

Victim

At least five people died in the explosion. Two more are still missing. 31 people were injured.

A truck driver and an employee of the hazardous waste disposal center died at the scene of the accident. Initially, five other employees were reported missing. On July 28, 2021, the operator Currenta said that he expected to only be able to rescue the five missing people dead. The public prosecutor's office began the investigation. Three of them were later found dead, and two more are still missing.

Pollutants and possible pollution

The hazardous waste incineration plant at the disposal center is also used to incinerate solvents containing halogens . This has to be done at temperatures above 1100 ° C in order to prevent the formation of toxic and carcinogenic chlorinated dioxins and furans , including the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzodioxin known from Seveso , as well as PCBs . Uncontrolled and without additional resources, such as those provided and used in such hazardous waste incineration plants, solvent mixtures burn at significantly lower temperatures, so that a large number of substances or pollutants are created and released during incineration.

During pollutant measurements in the north of Cologne, no pollution could be found on the day of the accident. Since the prevailing wind direction was from the southwest on that day, the smoke was carried to the northeast. Warnings were initially issued in Solingen and later in Dortmund, 60 kilometers away, of possible health impairments. It was called to close doors and windows. While no health-endangering pollutant concentrations could be measured in Dortmund, measurements from the areas over which the visible cloud of smoke has moved have not yet been published three days after the accident.

It was announced via the media that the responsible State Office for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection North Rhine-Westphalia (LANUV) would assume the formation of dioxins and furans as of July 28, 2021. It was therefore warned against touching combustion residues (flakes, chunks, pellets ...) with your hands that may have spread through the smoke. In the affected regions, garden furniture, play and sports equipment and swimming pools should not be touched. Fruit and vegetables from the affected region should not be consumed for the time being. The city of Leverkusen recommended taking off your shoes outside to prevent soot from entering the apartments.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ralf Krieger and Rebecca Lessmann: Explosion at the hazardous waste incineration: huge cloud of smoke over the city. July 27, 2021, accessed July 27, 2021 .
  2. ↑ Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger: Explosion at hazardous waste incineration , accessed on July 28, 2021
  3. ↑ Britta Schunck, Bernd Bussang: Motorways A1, A3 and A59 closed: Severe explosion in Chempark Leverkusen - police report several injuries. July 27, 2021, accessed July 27, 2021 .
  4. ↑ State Environment Agency speaks of dioxin compounds in the smoke over Leverkusen. Tagesschau, July 30, 2021, accessed on July 30, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Found three more dead. WDR, July 28, 2021, accessed on July 28, 2021 .
  6. ↑ a b Leverkusen: Explosion in the Chempark - an overview of the most important things. In: Der Spiegel. Retrieved July 27, 2021 .
  7. ^ Bensberg earthquake station: data and explanation , accessed on July 28, 2021
  8. ↑ a b Britta Schunck, Bernd Bussang, Leah Hautermans: Rescue work continues: Second fatality found after explosion in Chempark in Leverkusen. July 27, 2021, accessed July 27, 2021 .
  9. ^ Süddeutsche Zeitung: North Rhine-Westphalia: Heavy explosion in Leverkusen. Retrieved July 27, 2021 .
  10. ↑ Explosion in Chempark Leverkusen: "A cloud of smoke moves as far as Bochum". Retrieved July 28, 2021 .
  11. ↑ Armin Scheuermann: Explosion in Chempark Leverkusen - Update: Five missing people probably dead too. Retrieved on July 31, 2021 .
  12. ↑ Süddeutsche Zeitung: Leverkusen: There were probably dioxin compounds in the explosion cloud. Retrieved July 31, 2021 .
  13. ↑ ARD ticker from Tuesday (07/27/2021) for reading, message from 14:07
  14. ↑ After the explosion in Leverkusen: Little hope of survivors
  15. ↑ tagesschau.de: Explosion in the Chempark Leverkusen: How toxic are the substances from the cloud of smoke? Retrieved July 28, 2021 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 2 ′ 32.1 ″  N , 6 ° 58 ′ 7 ″  E