Petrochemical firm probed over Taiwan gas blasts
Print Edition
AUTHORITIES in Taiwan’s second-biggest city zeroed in on a petrochemical firm yesterday in their investigation into a series of gas pipeline explosions that killed 28 people and injured 286, as anger rose over the handling of the disaster.
The government is seeking to pinpoint the cause of five blasts that tore through the streets of Kaohsiung from about midnight on Thursday, flinging cars into the air and blasting cement rubble at passers-by.
Environmental officials said LCY Chemical Corp had failed to notify authorities of problems with a pipeline in the area despite being aware of irregularities that night.
“If we were informed earlier, we could have evacuated everyone,” said Chen Chin-der, director of the city’s Environmental Protection Bureau.
The pipeline was leaking nearly four tons of propene an hour as pressure dropped about 8:45pm on Thursday, he said.
Propene, also known as propylene, is mainly used for making plastic. It is a highly flammable, colorless gas with a mildly unpleasant smell.
Thinking at first that the leak was of natural gas, firefighters poured water at the site in the hope of dissolving the gas. When it became clear it wasn’t natural gas, environmental experts were called in.
The experts were only able to identify the gas as propene about 11:55pm, Chen said. But by then it was too late. A few minutes later, the blasts started ripping the streets apart.
The Environmental Protection Bureau said data collected from LCY’s plant and that of its supplier, China General Terminal & Distribution Corp, showed abnormalities in the delivery of propene. But the companies failed to notify the authorities.
LCY said it will cooperate with the investigation.
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