Benjamin Peter, edited by Gauthier Delomez 07:36, September 21, 2021
The city of Toulouse commemorates the 20th anniversary of the AZF disaster on Tuesday.
The factory explosion claimed the lives of 31 people and left nearly 2,500 injured.
Some victims still have physical consequences.
This is the case of Pauline Miranda who confided in the microphone of Europe 1.
The Pink City tribute to the victims of the AZF disaster.
20 years ago, the explosion of the factory in the heart of the chemical center of Toulouse left 31 dead and nearly 2,500 injured.
A commemoration is scheduled at 10:17 am on the old factory site on the outskirts of the city.
Among the victims, some still have consequences.
Europe 1 met Pauline Miranda, one of those people physically affected by the explosion.
La Toulousaine remembers this September 21, 2001 very precisely: "When I saw the mushroom, I said it out loud in my car: 'AZF farted'. It could only be that," he says. she.
>> Listen again to Europe Matin in podcast or in replay here
"We were in a time of war"
Pauline Miranda was driving when she heard the explosion.
She explains that her car rose up and debris was flying everywhere.
On returning home, the Toulousaine says that she only met bloodied people.
She also remembers the gaping holes in the place of the windows.
Pauline Miranda admits to being "a miracle" since the Toulouse woman had cleaned the windows of her house a few minutes before the explosion.
"We were in a time of war. For three days with my husband, we tried to remove 50 cm pieces of glass from the concrete with screwdrivers that were projected on the walls," she explains.
More than material damage, the disaster left him aftereffects.
Pauline Miranda has lost 80% of her hearing and suffers from tinnitus.
Physical and psychological consequences
La Toulousaine cannot forget what happened that day.
"For 20 years, every morning when I put my little device in my ear, it's a piece of AZF", confides the Toulousaine, before continuing: "Every day, I live with AZF and until that I close my eyes, on my last day, at my last hour, I will have AZF with me ".
Pauline Miranda now takes care of the victims with the September 21 disaster association, of which she is the president.
Some of them are still discovering, 20 years after the disaster, physical and psychological consequences.