At 8:37 this morning the Williams Olefins Chemical Plant on the Mississippi River in Geismar, Louisiana exploded. The plant manufactured propylene, a petrochemical used in plastics, which fueled the blaze for at least 5 hours.
Of the 300 employees evacuated, at least 1 was killed, 10 were hospitalized, and 73 were injured. 10 remain in a safe room at the plant, but those within 2 miles of the plant have been told by authorities to remain indoors.
In a news conference, Governor Bobby Jindal told the press that “There are no early detections of dangerous levels of VOC - that's volatile organic compound [sic] - but out of an abundance of caution both the company and the DEQ (Department of Environmental Quality) are doing testing not only at the plant site but miles away from the plant site following the direction of the plume,” reports Reuters.com.
The plant is between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in unincorporated, mostly industrial land, according to NBCNews.com. It produces also produces ethylene—approximately 1.3 billion pounds of it—in the plastics-making process, but only the 90 million pounds of propylene are burning. Plant safety workers and state officials are on the scene, but the cause of the explosion is unknown at this time.
For pictures, check out the short photo slide at the top of Reuters.com.