Death toll from Mexican chemical blast rises to 32
4/25/2016 12:00:00 AM
MEXICO CITY, April 24 (Reuters) -- Four more people have been found dead after last week's explosion at a petrochemical plant in southeastern Mexico, raising the death toll to 32, state oil giant Pemex and Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem said in a joint statement on Sunday.
The vinyl petrochemical plant in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz is a joint venture between Pemex's petrochemical unit and majority owner Mexichem.
Pemex's CEO has said that last week's blast was caused by a leak but he did not know how the leak had happened exactly.
It was the latest in a series of fatal accidents at the company.
The massive explosion took place on Wednesday afternoon at the facility's chlorinate 3 plant in the Gulf state of Veracruz, sending a black cloud of smoke hundreds of meters into the air and giving off a powerful smell of ammonia.
The blast occurred at a vinyl petrochemical plant that is a joint venture between Pemex's petrochemical unit and majority owner Mexican plastic pipe maker Mexichem. Pemex operates the larger petrochemical complex where the plant was located, known as Pajaritos.
The plant produces some 900 tpd of vinyl chloride monomer, also known as chloroethene, an industrial chemical used to produce plastic piping. The joint venture had forecast sales of $260 million this year.
Earlier on Friday, Mexichem CEO Antonio Carrillo told Reuters that the company had declared force majeure on one internal contract in the wake of the blast.
He said Mexichem would have a better idea of the impact of the blast on the company in the coming weeks.
In February, a fire killed a worker at the same plant, the latest in a litany of safety disasters that have plagued Pemex.
In 2013, at least 37 people were killed by a blast at its Mexico City headquarters, and 26 people died in a fire at a Pemex natural gas facility in northern Mexico in September 2012.
A 2015 fire at its Abkatun Permanente platform in the oil-rich Bay of Campeche affected oil output and cost the company up to $780 million.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by Tom Hogue)
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