The detonation was heard more than 80 km away.
Ten days after the September 11 attacks, while France still has its eyes on the United States, Toulouse will be at the heart of one of the greatest industrial disasters that the country has known.
This Friday, September 21, 2001, at 10:17 am, the lives of the inhabitants of the Pink City were turned upside down when hangar 221 of the AZF factory exploded.
The explosion destroyed many buildings in its path, killing 31 people and injuring some 2,500. Plunged into a real blackout, the capital of the South-West has been devastated. On the radio waves the first calls for confinement sound as everyone wonders in the first minutes of the drama about what could have happened. Before discovering for some that a chemical factory was less than 5 km as the crow flies from the Capitol. That day, the French discovered by turning on their television screens the images of a devastated site, haggard inhabitants. A catastrophe which marked the spirits and changed the idea of industrial risk.
And you, where were you that day? What were you doing ? How did you find out what had just happened in Toulouse? What reaction did you have? Have you tried to reach relatives in the Pink City? Did you follow the events over the hours in front of your television set? Tell us, your testimonials will be used to write an article.
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Call for witnesses
Explosion
Seveso
Disaster
Azf
Azf trial
Toulouse
Society