• Tarragona: The missing worker is found dead after the explosion
  • Catalonia: Explosion at a petrochemical plant in Tarragona: one dead and eight injured

A sheet of iron of a ton, possibly the top of the reactor that exploded last night in a chemical industry of Tarragona, flew about three kilometers, entered through the window of a building , caused the fall of the floor of a floor and that of the roof of the down and killed the man who lived there.

The mayor of Tarragona, has explained this "almost unlikely" event as "most likely hypothesis" that technicians handle to know the cause of the death of Sergio Millán , 59, who died at his home in the Tarragona neighborhood of Torreforta to consequence of the explosion in the IQOXE industry, located in the municipality of La Canonja.

Image of the building where one of the victims of Tarragona died. | EFE

In the event on Tuesday two people died and eight others were injured , workers of the company except the neighbor of Torreforta.

Firefighters of the Generalitat have found this morning the body of the worker disappeared after the explosion.

The worker, who was the head of the plant , had been missing since the incident, shortly before 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, and the search has continued throughout the night.

IQOXE , the chemical company that suffered the explosion in its industrial complex in La Canonja (Tarragona), has announced "an internal investigation" about the accident, and has clarified that the affected plant "was put into operation in June 2017 and has It has been working normally "since then .

In a statement, the company, owned by the Extremaduran industrial group Cristian Lay, has stressed that the internal investigation that will be launched should "detect the causes of the accident and its consequences."

"From the first moment the company has offered the maximum collaboration to both the Generalitat Firefighters and Civil Protection in their work, to which we appreciate their dedication, and is available to the authorities for relevant investigations," IQOXE emphasizes, Acronym for Chemical Industries of Ethylene Oxide.

For its part, Civil Protection of the Generalitat has accused the company Iqoxe of "not providing information and not following the protocols" after the explosion and fire.

In statements to Rac-1, the deputy director of Civil Protection, Sergi Delgado , explained that there were difficulties in assessing the risk of toxic cloud: "This type of evaluation is based on the information given by the company but this communication, for different reasons , it was not received and the protocols could not be followed . "

Likewise, Labor Inspection of Tarragona will also investigate the causes of the industrial accident and has announced that it will act in the event that negligence is detected in occupational risk prevention.

Specifically, the Inspection staff of Tarragona will focus on knowing the causes of the event and "act accordingly" if negligence is detected in terms of prevention of occupational hazards, as reported by the Department of Labor of the Generalitat.

For their part, the unions denounce that labor precarization at the plant did not guarantee adequate levels of safety.

Chemical Industries of Ethylene Oxide (IQOXE) is the former IQA, which belonged to Silk.

"The ownership of IQOXE guarantees the future of the company and the maintenance of all jobs," said the statement of this company, whose CEO, José Luis Morlanes, former president of La Seda.

After entering into bankruptcy proceedings, La Seda sold the IQA production unit in La Canonja in 2014 for 16.5 million euros and that of Artenius Spain, in El Prat de Llobregat (Barcelona), for 100,000 euros to the Extremaduran group Cristian Lay , once the relevant judicial authorization has been obtained.

Currently, IQOXE is the only producer of ethylene oxide in Spain and is integrated into Cristian Lay Industrial Group, controlled by Extremaduran businessman Ricardo Leal.

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