The Lubrizol company estimated on Saturday that the additional expertise on the origin of the September 2019 fire in Rouen did not confirm "in any case" that the fire had started from the industrial site.
“The additional expert report does not in any way confirm that the fire started on the Lubrizol side,” reacted the group in a press release sent to AFP on Saturday.
“The additional expert report confirms the conclusions of the first expert report: the experts confirm the fire starting zone (zone identified by the experts in which NL Logistique and Lubrizol are located) as well as the preferred hypothesis of a departure on the Lubrizol side.
It is therefore still only a simple hypothesis, ”says the group.
The initial expertise had been requested by the Paris prosecutor's office, which had opened an investigation into this fire during which nearly 10,000 tonnes of potentially toxic chemicals burned, on the Lubrizol site and that of its neighbor Normandie Logistique.
The additional expertise was carried out at the request of the investigation.
"A departure on the grip of the LZ company"
“The additional elements (…) and the additional study made to the alarm and detection systems allow us to confirm the fire starting zone initially selected, without however being able to refine it further”, write the experts in the counter- expertise.
The preferred hypothesis remains "a departure from the influence of the LZ company", namely Lubrizol, underlines this report.
The fire of September 26, 2019 had no casualties but had caused a gigantic plume of black smoke, and the civil parties fear long-term consequences on human health and the environment.
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