HOUSTON, June 14 (Xinhua) -- One person was killed and five others were injured in an explosion that rattled a fertilizer plant in the U.S. state of Louisiana Friday evening, local media reported.
The explosion, caused by a nitrogen vessel rupture, happened around 6:15 p.m. at CF Industries in Donaldsonville, a southern city located along the west bank of the Mississippi River, local media NOLA.COM reported.
The blast killed one person and injured five others, including three who are in critical condition, Louisiana State Police spokesman Trooper Jared Sandifer told the media. NOLA initially counted the number of the injured as seven.
Police later identified the dead victim as a 55-year-old man named Ronald Morris. He was confirmed to be an employee with CF Industries, a primary manufacturer and distributor of agricultural fertilizers in the U.S.
Sandifer said workers over-pressured the nitrogen vessel, causing it to explode. The vessel was in a section of the plant that had been shut down for maintenance, and happened during the off-loading of nitrogen.
A worker who asked not to be named told NOLA the pressure blew when some workers were trying to replace a valve of the vessel.
There was no fire at the scene and no chemical leakage was detected, local officials said. No notice or alert was issued for residents who live near the site.
CF Industries describes itself on its website as the second-largest nitrogen fertilizer producer in the world and the third-largest phosphate fertilizer producer among public companies.
This isn't the first deadly blast at the company's Donaldsonville facility. Three workers were killed and eight others were injured in an explosion at the facility in May 2000, according to the report.
Friday's explosion happened only one day after a chemical plant producing ethylene in Louisiana was rocked by a blast in which two people were killed and 77 others were injured.
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