Criminal intent seen in French petrochemical fires

Algiers- a fire, which caused no injuries, was underway Tuesday morning after two explosions on LyondellBasell petrochemical site in southern France, said sources close to the investigation.

The affected plant is close to Marseille Provence Airport, the fifth-busiest in the country, but the authorities say there has been no impact on air traffic so far.

The company said the fire in one tank had already been put out while the blaze in the second Value-Added Tax was in the process of being extinguished. LyondellBasell, which operates the “steam cracker” plant, said the fires were not toxic.

Police, gas masks hanging around their neck, set up road blocks to stop anyone from getting near the site, and more than 100 firemen were at the scene.

“The simultaneous explosion of the tanks, which are spaced about 500 metres (yards) from each other, is not the result of a technical accident, the source said of the incident at a plant run by New York-listed LyondellBasell industries LYB.N”.

Two storage tanks, 500 meters apart, have been affected, according to the statement: “The first contains gasoline and the second contains naphtha”. “Investigators are leaning towards the theory of a voluntary act”, one of the sources said. “We have ruled nothing out”.

Thieves broke into a vast army logistics base in Miramas overnight on July 5, stealing at least 150 detonators and a stock of plastic explosives.

“Very well informed” thieves had cut two security fences and gone straight to the right arms depots before making their getaway.

Asked whether there could be a link between the thefts and Tuesday’s explosions, Jean-Marc Séanateur, sub-prefect of the Istres area, said investigators “could pose that question” but that it was too early to draw any conclusions.