Last week, five people died in the explosion in a waste incineration plant in Leverkusen. The reasons for this have not yet been clarified.
Leverkusen – After the severe explosion in a Leverkusen hazardous waste incineration plant, NRW Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) visited the site of the accident and called for clarification.
“Now, above all, the causes have to be precisely clarified and dealt with. All necessary measures must be taken as soon as possible so that such a bad accident does not recur in the future, ”the politician said on Saturday.
After the detonation on Tuesday morning at Chempark – an area with chemical companies – at least five people died, two are still missing. “Our thoughts are with the relatives,” said Heinen-Esser. “At the same time, thanks go to all the emergency services who fought day and night for the lives of their colleagues and are still fighting and prevented the fire from spreading further.”
The cause of the accident is not yet known. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the suspicion of negligent homicide and negligent causing of an explosion against unknown persons. She wants to find out whether human errors led to the catastrophe.
There was also a major fire after the explosion. Many small soot particles fell over neighboring villages. The NRW State Environment Agency (LANUV) has so far not been able to detect any residues of dioxin in these, and only very low values were measured for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). For residents who had feared toxic substances, this meant the first all-clear. However, there should be further analyzes. According to the environment ministry on Saturday, a “task force” was specifically agreed “for the analysis of fire residues”. dpa
