ALBAWABA- An explosion at a petroleum-products storage facility in the Port of Rotterdam on Thursday killed one person and injured six others, Dutch authorities said.
The blast occurred at the Gunvor Energy facility on Moezelweg in the Europoort area. A maintenance crew was working on pipelines near the tank storage area when the explosion occurred. Initial information indicated that workers may have been disconnecting pipes at the time.
Two Gunvor employees and four subcontractor workers were injured and taken to hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately disclosed.
Police cordoned off the site and launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion. Authorities said there was no immediate indication of sabotage and that all possibilities were being considered, while the Dutch Labour Inspectorate is conducting a separate inquiry. Initial assessments suggested the incident may have been a workplace accident.
The explosion followed power disruptions in parts of the port earlier Thursday, including a fire at a transformer station reportedly linked to a power surge. The regional safety authority confirmed that some of the power-related incidents were connected, although port authorities said the explosion itself was not linked to the outages.
Gunvor Energy said it was cooperating fully with the authorities. The Port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, hosts major oil, gas and petrochemical facilities. LNG terminals were unaffected, although some operations experienced temporary disruptions because of the power problems.
