BREAKING NEWS: Deaths, Injuries In Texas Refinery Blast

[Gold9472]

Deaths, injuries in Texas refinery blast
Undetermined number dead, 100-plus injured

The Associated Press
Updated: 7:13 p.m. ET March 23, 2005

TEXAS CITY, Texas - An explosion rocked a BP oil refinery Wednesday, killing an undetermined number of people, injuring more than 100 and sending flames and black smoke billowing into the sky, authorities said.

BP spokesman Neil Chapman confirmed fatalities but did not have a total number. The fire was extinguished after a few hours, and workers were searching through rubble for survivors or bodies. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Plant worker Charles Gregory said he and several co-workers were inside a trailer getting ready to clean the tank when the floor started rumbling. “After that is when it exploded,” he said.

“It was real scary,” he said. “Have you ever heard the thunder real loud? It was like 10 times that.”

Federal investigators heading to scene
The explosion occurred in a part of the plant used to boost the octane level of gasoline. BP spokeswoman Annie Smith said terrorism “is not a primary focus of our investigation.”

Federal investigators had been dispatched, said Daniel Horowitz, director of public affairs for the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.

At least three of the injured were in critical condition and one was in serious condition, officials said.

The plant in Texas City, about 35 miles southeast of Houston, sprawls across 1,200 acres with 30 refinery units. About 433,000 barrels of crude oil are processed a day, producing 3 percent of the U.S. supply. The plant employs about 1,800 people.

A refinery explosion forced the evacuation of the plant for several hours in March. Afterward, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery $63,000 for safety violations, including problems with its emergency shutdown system and employee training.

OSHA also fined the refinery after two employees were burned to death by superheated water in September.

It was not immediately clear how production at the plant would be affected by Wednesday’s explosion.

© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Gold9472]

Huge blast rocks Texas oil plant
Schools were closed and residents warned to stay indoors

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4377519.stm

An explosion has rocked an oil refinery in Texas, killing at least four people, according to local TV reports.

Witnesses said the BP plant in Texas City was shaken by loud, powerful explosions with vast flames.

Television pictures showed firefighters picking through the smoking wreckage, as emergency services warned people living nearby to stay indoors.

US gasoline prices jumped to as word of the explosion hit financial markets, reaching $1.604 (£0.8589) per gallon.

BP spokesman Hugh Depland did not give an official casualty figure, but confirmed that some people had died in the blast.

'Sonic boom'

The explosion happened at 1330 (1930 GMT) at the western end of the plant, which covers an area of almost 500 hectares.

The Texas City refinery, 35 miles (55km) from Houston, is the third biggest in the US, employing 2,000 people.

It processes roughly 450,000 barrels of crude oil each day.

That figure is approximately 3% of the US' domestic oil supply and one-third of BP's output across the US.

In a statement, BP said: "Company and area emergency crews are responding and working to get the situation under control.

"BP can confirm the incident has caused multiple injuries and that one person has been life-flighted from the scene. Plant officials have not confirmed any fatalities," it said.

Texas City resident Mike Martin described "a real loud explosion, like a sonic boom".

"It shook the pictures bad enough to where it knocked them off the wall. And it frightened me, so I jumped out of bed."

Judith Mantell, 62, told the Houston Chronicle that the blast lifted her vehicle off the ground at her home five miles (8km) away.

"I've never seen flames that high from anything. They were bright orange, with yellow on the side," she said.

[frindevil]

This happened 4-5+ hour ago.

cnn is carrying the Terri Schiavo story, and not a SINGLE WORD about this. In fact 30 mins ago I could not find a uS news site carrying this.

Mind you back home, the Scotsman was carrying the story and it's midnight there. They've had the story for hours.

CNN has nothing.

Other US news places are commenting after the fact. BP will not say how many died, just that some did.

Jon done something awesome though, wait til you see ;)

- Frind

[Gold9472]

I called the BP Oil Refinery in Texas, and spoke to the Public Affairs Officer on the premises... Hugh something... He says he doesn't have a cause for the explosion, and that we wouldn't have one at this point in the investigation. I asked how many fatalities, and he said he's not willing to dislose that information yet, but they are expected to at 7:30/8:30pm our time.

I recorded the whole thing, but you can barely hear the other person on the phone...

Click Here (http://home.comcast.net/~gold9472/realnews.mp3) to listen to a very one sided, poorly recorded conversation between me and the people at BP... :)

It starts out really crappy, but then gets a little better...

[frindevil]

I love that.

I'll tidy up the audio when I get a chance, very cool!

- Frind

[Gold9472]

I love that.

I'll tidy up the audio when I get a chance, very cool!

- Frind

HA! Thanks... just fun... but see... you CAN make your own news when other sources won't.

[Gold9472]

The total number dead according to MSNBC is 14...

[Gold9472]

Texas blast 'was not terrorism'
Flames erupted from the plant after the blast

Investigators in Texas say there is no evidence that terrorists attacked a BP oil plant after an explosion killed 15 and injured over 100 on Wednesday (Gold9472: But they don't say what the cause of the blast was).

FBI agents have pulled out of BP's Texas City plant, site of a blast that shook buildings five miles (8km) away.

Sections of the plant were reduced to cinders and rubble in the explosion on Wednesday, which sparked a big fire.

The refinery, the third-biggest in the US, has had previous safety problems.

In March last year, it was evacuated after an explosion that cost the company $63,000 in fines.

Last September, two workers died and another was seriously injured when they were scalded by superheated water that escaped from a high-pressure pipe.

'Real scary'

Wednesday's explosion happened at 1330 (1930 GMT) at the western end of the plant, which covers an area of almost 500 hectares.

BP said the blast happened in an isomerisation unit, used to produce octane for petrol. It had been working normally before the explosion, company officials said.

"It's clear that we have a lot of work to do in the coming days to make sure we understand exactly what happened, and we're going to do that," said BP American President Ross Pillari.

Employee Charles Gregory said he felt the floor rumbling as the blast erupted.

"It was real scary," he told the Associated Press news agency. "Have you ever heard the thunder real loud? It was like 10 times that."

Thick clouds of black smoke rose into the air as firefighters struggled to douse the flames.

The aftermath of the blast left a gaping hole in the earth, while chunks of charred metal littered the ground. Cars parked nearby were coated with a layer of ash.

One man who had remained unaccounted for was confirmed dead on Thursday afternoon, bringing the death toll to 15.

The Texas City refinery, 35 miles (55km) south-east of Houston, is the third biggest in the US, employing 2,000 people.

It processes roughly 450,000 barrels of crude oil each day, amounting to about 3% of domestic oil supply in the US and one-third of BP's output across the country.

'Sonic boom'

BP spokesman Bill Stephens said investigators had started looking into the cause of the explosion.

"We're going to be very thorough on this one," he said. "I can't tell you exactly when we will finish this investigation, but no stone will go unturned."

Another company spokesman, Hugh Depland, virtually ruled out terrorism as a factor.

He was backed by an FBI spokesman, who said agents had pulled out of the plant on Thursday.

Health officials said more than 70 of those injured had been working inside the refinery and some of them were in a critical condition.

Texas City was the scene of the country's worst industrial accident in April 1947, when a ship full of ammonium nitrate, used in fertiliser, exploded in the harbour, killing at least 576 people.

[Gold9472]

Fundamentalist Group Claims Texas Explosion

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20050325&hn=17823

By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Friday 25, 2005
zaman.com

An explosion at a British Petroleum (BP) petrochemical plant in the US state of Texas, killing 14 and injuring over 100, has been claimed by a fundamentalist group.

A manifesto broadcast on the Internet from the "Military Organization of the Middle East" stated that the recent attack was a new form of operation. The name of the organization was heard for the first time with another manifesto published on the Internet on Monday (March 21st), which claimed an attack with a bomb-loaded vehicle in the capital of Qatar, Doha, on March 19th.

Another manifesto published by the organization on the Internet on Tuesday (March 22) threatens the US, Great Britain and Italy with possible attacks against oil plants and military bases in the West and churches in the Middle East.

[14.17:00]

[danceyogamom]

Fundamentalist Group Claims Texas Explosion

http://www.zaman.com/?bl=hotnews&alt=&trh=20050325&hn=17823

By Anadolu News Agency (aa)
Published: Friday 25, 2005
zaman.com

An explosion at a British Petroleum (BP) petrochemical plant in the US state of Texas, killing 14 and injuring over 100, has been claimed by a fundamentalist group.

A manifesto broadcast on the Internet from the "Military Organization of the Middle East" stated that the recent attack was a new form of operation. The name of the organization was heard for the first time with another manifesto published on the Internet on Monday (March 21st), which claimed an attack with a bomb-loaded vehicle in the capital of Qatar, Doha, on March 19th.

Another manifesto published by the organization on the Internet on Tuesday (March 22) threatens the US, Great Britain and Italy with possible attacks against oil plants and military bases in the West and churches in the Middle East.

[14.17:00]

definitely not terrorism .... *sigh*

funny how quickly this was claimed, and unless I missed something huge (which is entirely possible) - 9/11 was never claimed ...