Rotterdam explosion: Blast at Dutch port leaves 1 dead, several injured
An explosion at the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Thursday killed at least one person and injured several others, city police said.
An explosion at the Dutch port of Rotterdam on Thursday killed at least one person and injured several others, city police said.
Police said the blast at Europe’s biggest port happened late Thursday morning and that a crime scene has been set up to try to establish what caused it.
“An explosion occurred on the Moezelweg (road) around 11.30am (0930 GMT). We are investigating how this happened”, Rotterdam police said in a post on X.
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Local broadcaster Rijnmond reported a maintenance crew was at the scene working on pipes prior to the blast.
Images on social media showed visible traces of an explosion on a storage tank at the facilityl.
Reuters reported that Gunvor Energy, a company which operates oil product storage tanks in the same location near the port, said several people had been injured in a separate “incident” which occurred while maintenance activity was being carried out on Thursday morning.
“We are cooperating with local authorities,” the spokesperson for Gunvor said.
Rotterdam emergency services reported a major power failure at the port and said that a transformer had caught fire under unexplained circumstances. Power was gradually being restored to companies in an industrial area of the port a few hours later.
A number of oil and gas companies are based there and fire crews were standing by.
More to come
