An explosion occurred at a factory in Finland near the border with Russia
An explosion occurred at the Kaukopea plant in Finland, located near the border with Russia. The incident took place around 2:00 a.m.; there were no injuries.
According to preliminary reports, the explosion was caused by the rupture of a tank containing pine oil, after which the substance caught fire.
The plant’s control room detected the explosion and contacted the emergency response center around 2:00 a.m.
The accident occurred in an open area of the plant’s tank farm, where various liquids are stored.
As a result of the incident, approximately 50 cubic meters of pine oil spilled onto the plant’s grounds. It took over two hours to extinguish the fire.
Some of the substance entered Lake Saima via the storm sewer system.
As a result, special booms were deployed on the lake early this morning to contain the pollution. Pine oil is also being removed from the water using a vacuum machine.
So far, there have been no reports of injuries resulting from the explosion and fire.
The plant’s director explained that the raw material used in production is a byproduct of the pulp cooking process.
Previously, this raw material was used to make pine soap. Today, the plant uses it to produce industrial chemicals for the pulp industry.
This was reported by YLE.
