POSTED: 7:31 a.m. EST, November 1, 2006
BUCHAREST, Romania (Reuters) — An explosion at the 72,000 barrels per day RAFO Onesti oil refinery in eastern Romania on Wednesday killed at least two workers, a company official said.
“A blast at a catalytic refining installation has probably killed three workers,” Marin Anton, the refinery’s general manager, told Reuters by telephone.
“We are now trying to dig out the corpses.”
Anton said the blast, probably triggered by an accumulation of gas, had partly damaged a preheating oven at the installation, but would not affect the refinery’s crude processing capability.
The refinery, with a processing capacity of 3.5 million tonnes of crude per
year, was closed following annual maintenance works undergone in August-September.
“The refinery will restart production as planned on December 1,” the official said.
An investigation was launched by prosecutors into the causes of the accident.
Copyright 2006 Reuters