Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - A fire broke out early Saturday at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co Ltd plant in Shanghai, killing on...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - A fire broke out early Saturday at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co Ltd plant in Shanghai, killing one employee, according to the business.
In a video released on Twitter by the state-backed Shanghai Daily, a raging fire was seen engulfing part of a huge plant, producing columns of thick black smoke.
The fire at one of China's largest refining and petrochemicals factories broke out at 4 a.m. (2000 GMT on Friday) and was brought under control by 9 a.m., but "was tough to handle," according to state media Xinhua.
It was predicted to burn for quite some time.
According to a Sinopec representative, the driver of a third-party transport vehicle perished and a business employee sustained a minor injury.
He claimed the ethylene glycol facility at the company in Jinshan, a southern suburb of China's financial capital, was damaged by the fire.
On its official Weibo account, state-owned Sinopec said it was monitoring volatile organic chemicals and their impact on rainfall outflows, and that no impact on the surrounding aquatic environment had been discovered.
According to its website, Sinopec Shanghai has a processing capacity of 16 million tonnes of crude oil and 700,000 tonnes of ethylene per year.
It is investing 3.5 billion yuan ($520 million) in a carbon fibre project as part of a diversification strategy away from refining and toward resin and fibres.
($1 = 6.7160 Chinese yuan renminbi)
