Huge Blast at BP Oil Refinery in Texas, Four Reported Dead

March 23, 2005
YAHOO News


Photo: KHOU-TV

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A massive explosion rocked BP's biggest oil refinery in the United States, reportedly killing four people and shooting flames and acrid smoke high into the sky.


It said several people had been injured in the explosion, which occurred at the western end of the 1,200-acre (486-hectare) facility at 1:20 pm (1920 GMT).

"We're at this point not in the position to confirm the number of fatalities. But there have been fatalities," BP spokesman Hugh Depland told the CNBC television network.

Photo: The British company confirmed there had been fatalities in the blast at the sprawling Texas City site, just south of Houston, but could not say how many.

He said the area where the fire took hold had been isolated "and we are still operating the remainder of the facility".

BP said in a statement: "Company and area emergency crews are responding and working to get the situation under control.

"BP can confirm the incident has caused multiple injuries and that one person has been life-flighted from the scene. Plant officials have not confirmed any fatalities," it said.

"There is no information at this time regarding the cause or extent of damage."

An official with the Texas governor's office of emergency management told AFP that local authorities were dealing with the blast but could not immediately provide further details.

But media reports said that four people had been killed in the blast at the refinery, which produces 30 percent of BP's North American oil supply and three percent of the entire US supply.

A small section of the channel serving the port of Houston close by Texas City was closed for safety inspections but soon re-opened, port authority and coast guard officials said.

Earlier reports said the entire channel had been closed to commercial shipping as a result of the blast.

According to BP, the Texas City site groups 30 refinery units and handles 460 million barrels of oil a day. It pumps out enough gasoline to fill up a car every seven seconds.

Witnesses described the explosion as stunning.

Judith Mantell, a 62-year-old social worker, said the blast rattled the windows of her house five miles (eight kilometres) away and lifted her truck a couple of inches into the air.

"It was unbelievable, the flames shot more than 70 feet (21 metres) into the air," she told the online edition of the Houston Chronicle.

"I've never seen flames that high from anything. They were bright orange, with yellow on the side," she said.

Television pictures showed a thick pall of black smoke stretching high into the sky over the refinery.

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