BUDAPEST, May 22 (Xinhua) -- An explosion and subsequent fire occurred on Friday morning at a petrochemical base of Hungarian oil and gas company MOL in Tiszaujvaros, northeastern Hungary, leaving one person dead and eight others injured. The fire at the scene has been extinguished, according to the Hungarian news agency MTI.
Hungary's Minister of Economy and Energy Istvan Kapitany later confirmed on social media that the explosion took place at 8:47 a.m. local time, when the facility was preparing to restart its Olefin-1 plant. The accident resulted in at least one death, making one person seriously injured and seven others suffering minor injuries.
Most of the injured suffered burns. The seriously injured was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in Debrecen for treatment, he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar expressed condolences to the family of the deceased and wished the injured a speedy recovery in a post on social media. He said that MOL Chairman-CEO Zsolt Hernadi and Kapitany had headed to the scene.
Following the accident, local disaster management authorities and firefighters from nearby Miskolc were dispatched to carry out rescue operations. The National Ambulance Service sent three helicopters and a number of ambulances to the scene to transport the injured.
Responding to public concerns over environmental safety, Tiszaujvaros Mayor Gyorgy Fulop said that there was currently no need for local residents to take special protective measures. The research made by a mobile laboratory dispatched by disaster management authorities showed that the concentration of hazardous substances in the air did not exceed safety limits, posing no threat to nearby residents.
According to local media reports, preliminary information indicates that the explosion may have been caused by a pyrolysis gasoline line at the plant. MOL has launched a comprehensive investigation into the cause of the accident. ■