Ibi (Spain) (AFP) – An explosion in a plastics factory near the southeastern Spanish city of Alicante killed three people and injured seven on Wednesday, emergency services said. A boiler exploded in an industrial estate in the town of Ibi, triggering “a shockwave” that affected the factory and an adjacent firm, said Alberto Martin, director general of the eastern Valencia region’s emergency service. One of the victims was from the neighbouring company and three people were in a serious condition, he told reporters at the scene.
Valencia emergency services had written on X that seven people were injured overall. Firefighters, ambulances and forensics experts were deployed around the partially collapsed factory from which rescue workers carried a body covered with a white sheet, an AFP journalist saw. A gigantic heap of plastic and wooden pallets had spilled out of gaping holes in the walls of warped metal.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed the government’s “full support” to the victims, workers and rescuers during an address to parliament. Ibi town council announced three days of mourning. The company using the factory, Industrias Climber, produces expanded polystyrene, a foam that protects packaged goods.
© 2024 AFP
