Just two weeks after the explosion in Ludwigshafen a firefighter succumbed to his injuries. The search for the misfortune continues.
The twelve-day explosion at BASF's plant in Ludwigshafen has called for a fourth death toll. On Saturday morning a firefighter succumbed to his injuries, the company told Ludwigshafen. "The whole of BASF is mourning," said CEO Kurt Bock. The other death victims were two other employees of the factory fire brigade, as well as a seaman of a tanker that had been in the harbor.
In the explosion with subsequent fires in the so-called "Landeshafen Nord" on October 17, 30 people were injured, eight of them were seriously injured. One of these was the fireman, now deceased. The investigators suspect that the misfortune came when an employee of a foreign company intersected an incorrect pipeline, in which combustible gases such as propylene and ethylene are transported.
The preparations for further investigations are currently taking place at the disaster site. The preparations are necessary "so that our colleagues can safely continue with the safeguarding of traces and evidence," as a police officer said. According to Bock, the prosecutor's office demanded that those pipelines, which were not damaged during the accident, be parked before the investigations at the disaster location.
Next Wednesday at 12 noon, the employees of the chemical group in Ludwigshafen want to take another minute of silence to commemorate the victims and to express their sadness. For this Sunday, a memorial service is also planned in a Catholic church in the district of Oppau, which the two great Christian churches and their emergency counselors have invited.
