Joshua Parfitt
IT was nearing 7pm. Sergio’s wife had just gone out for a walk with their granddaughter, when a massive explosion sent up a mushroom cloud outside Tarragona in Catalunya, Spain.
Sergio, who lived on the second-floor of an apartment block some 2km away, was the first recorded fatality of the blast.
The former fruit-store owner was killed by rubble from what neighbours have now described as a ‘ball of fire’ that struck an apartment on the third floor of the Garcia Lorca block.
Neighbours told El Pais they saw an ‘orange-coloured ball’ fly over the patio and smash into the wall of the complex.
“It was like a bomb,” said Antonia Mora, a neighbour on the first floor, who ran out into the street thinking it was a gas explosion.
No official report has so far confirmed whether Sergio, a father of two in his late 50s, was killed due to the blast at the Industrias Químicas del Oxido de Etileno (IQOXE) plant.
Agents from Guardia Urbana de Tarragona were spotted searching Sergio’s apartment block for signs of a projectile, while municipal architects are reportedly investigating structural damages.
It comes as a missing worker has today been named as the second fatality of the blast that occurred at 6.41pm on Tuesday evening.
Eight workers of the IQOXE are in hospital, with one in a critical state.
The plant is the only producer of ethylene oxide in Spain, 50% of which is used to make a key ingredient in the manufacturing of polyester fabrics and PET plastic products.
More to follow…
