Hi Dennis, the text is the second article..
By FRANCK DEMAY
Associated Press Writer
TOULOUSE, France (AP) A huge explosion, apparently accidental, ripped through a chemical fertilizer plant in this southwestern French city Friday, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 200, about 50 seriously, rescue officials said.
Windows were blown out for miles and red plumes of smoke wafted across Toulouse, home to nearly a million people and the country's aeronautics industry.
Officials blocked off the industrial area just south of Toulouse, evacuated schools, closed the airport and subway, rerouted drivers and told people to stay home as a precaution. The city's streets were virtually deserted in the hours after the late-morning blast.
We thought it was a plane exploding, said Sandra Muller, a mother of three reached by The Associated Press. All the houses trembled.
There's no one in the streets here, she said of her neighborhood just north of central Toulouse, about 15 miles from the site. It's deserted. We're all waiting.
There were early fears that the plumes of smoke could be toxic, though officials said that appeared not to be the case. At the moment the tests of air at the site show no traces of toxicity, said regional prefect Hubert Fournier.
He would not give a firm toll of death and injured. But a rescue official, Col. Christian Pizzocarro, said there were 10 to 15 dead and 200 injured, some 50 seriously, from the blast at the AZF chemical plant.
The company called the blast an accident, and French radio reported that workers had made an error in mixing chemicals. However, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, who visited the scene, said: We cannot establish at this moment the causes of what is an accident or something else. An investigation is under way.
AZF is the brand-name under which Grande Paroisse, France's largest fertilizer manufacturer, sells its products. Grande Paroisse is owned by Atofina, the chemicals unit of TotalFinaElf the world's fourth-biggest oil group.
The AZF plant, where 460 people work, is among 372 sites in France classified under a European Union directive as high-risk, meaning that extra security precautions must be taken.
The high-risk designation, officially named Seveso, was put in place after a 1976 chemical disaster in the Italian village of Seveso, where a pharmaceutical factory malfunctioned, producing a toxic cloud containing dioxin.
The AZF factory was destroyed by the 10:15 a.m. blast. At the site, debris was strewn everywhere and cars were torn apart. People with limbs bloodied from flying glass were seen running out of stores in downtown Toulouse, 2 1/2 miles away, French television said.
Some residents were trying to leave the city, causing large traffic jams. Some people described stinging eyes and throats and a strong, pervasive odor.
A director of a journalism school close to the explosion site said he'd heard a terrible blast.
All the windows were shattered and the ceilings have collapsed in the school, said Bertrand Thomas. There was panic, and everyone tried to get out of the area.
Toulouse, some 425 miles south of Paris, is home to Airbus, the European consortium, as well as Arianespace, the European Space Agency's commercial arm.
Egypt rejects U.S. coalition, upgrades ties with Iraq
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, September 21, 2001
CAIRO As a policy debate rages at top levels in the Bush administration over attacking the regime of President Saddam Hussein, Egypt is moving to improve relations with Iraq.Egyptian diplomats said President Hosni Mubarak plans to raise the level of representation between Baghdad and Cairo to the level of ambassador. They said diplomatic ties would be raised commensurate to the level of trade relations.Egypt has refused to participate in a U.S.-led military coalition against any Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden or any of his government sponsors. Instead, Mubarak has called for a United Nations-sponsored conference on international terrorism, Middle East Newsline reports. Egypt has sent a new charge d'affaires to Baghdad. He is Hussein Zoghbi, a 59-year-old former ambassador to Eritrea.In an interview to the Egyptian official Middle East News Agency, Zoghbi said Egyptian-Iraqi relations would soon be renewed at the level of full diplomatic ties. He said such relations are developing in cooperation with Iraq.Egypt and Iraq have agreed to increase trade relations, including the establishment of a free trade zone. Iraq has also agreed to increase the number of Egyptian laborers in the country.Zoghbi said his job would focus on representing Egyptian nationals in Iraq.
Bert |
