DEP Invoice or Financial Record, September 30, 2001

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o French Search for Cause of Chemical Plant Explosion o co

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'2 o o Some Suspect Terror; CT o' "0 tn Others, Carelessness o 3- ro 9L tAi ro By MARLISE SIMONS O CaJ o TOULOUSE, France, Sept. 24 — o Acrid smoke still rose today from the c 3 wreckage of one of France’s largest Q petrochemical plants, reduced to a •' " ........ 3

Skeleton of giant steel girders bent Ai Lllke twigs in a huge explosion last Friday that wreaked environmental damage and even stirred fears among residents that they, too, were victims of terrorism. ... Local and national officials from President Jacques Chirac on down have tried their best to quash such fears. Tonight, as firefighters offi­ 3 cially abandoned the search for any survivors in the debris, Toulouse’s prosecutor, Michel Breard, insisted that “technical details” indicated that it was “99 percent certain that It , was an accident.” He added that there was no evi­ SsS»fi dence as to what caused the catastro­ phe but hinted it might have resulted from a lack of care. “The risk of an Agence France-Presse • explosion was not considered impor­ French officials are still searching for answers about the cause of an explosion at an AZF chemical fertilizer tant by the site’s security.” Mr. Breard, prosecutor of plant in Toulouse on Friday. The blast killed 29, and close to 800 people were still hospitalized yesterday. France’s fourth largest city, has or- ..notice,” he said. He appealed for help At the ruined plant on Sunday, 'dered a judicial inquiry into the 'from the army to join in the cleanup .smoke still curled above the wreck­ " disaster on Friday. The blast left 29 and prevent pillaging. age. “We have to take a break,” said people dead, at least 10 missing, and ■ The mayor is among the many Pavid Fabries, pulling away his pair Injured more than 2,500 as it dam­ 'vocal Toulouse residents who now .of search dogs. “My dogs and I are aged buildings as far as three miles wonder how the petrochemical plant, ,getting overwhelmed by the fumes.” away and spewed acid clouds into the classified as “high risk,” came to be Managers and workers at the air. Close to 800 remain hospitalized, so close to the edge of a city of one plant, meanwhile, still talk of a ter­ some of whom may yet die from million people. rorist act or foul play rather than a bums or internal injuries. ? Environmental inspectors an- lapse in their own security as the Philippe Douste-Blazy, Toulouse’s ^'nounced today that most of the am­ Hkely cause of the blast. Like much ■ mayor, stood today on a street in monia and other gases thrown into of the rest of the world, the residents

Nairnes Mlrail, a shattered neighborhood the air had dispersed but warned of Toulouse are Jiltery after the ler- where every family was shoveling nearby towns and villages not to ,ror attacks on the United States on . broken glass and torn roof panels, drink tap water because the plant Sept. 11. ^d said some 20,000 homes, apart- ^had contaminated the nearby Ga- . “There was a first noise and then a . ments and offices had been dam- 'ronne River. The scale of the dam- ,few seconds later a huge explosion,” .aged. Three hospitals, more than 60 ■ age — like the cause of the explosion said Marcel Berson, who lives near ‘Schools, a university campus for "itself — will probably take weeks if the plant. “It blew me across the 25,000 students and a soccer stadium . are unusable, “closed until further /not months to determine, city offi­ cials said. yard against the wall,” he said, showing cuts on his head and his PQQCI o-F a