Powerful explosions rocked an industrial complex outside Buenos Aires on Friday night as firefighters battled a blaze, officials said.
At least 15 people were injured and taken to hospital as a result.
“The explosions and fires in various factories are huge,” French news agency AFP quoted Gaston Granados as saying. Granados is the mayor of Ezeiza where the events unfolded.
“We’re trying to control [the fire] And put it out but haven’t been able to do that yet,” Granados said.
Visibility in the area has been affected due to the smoke from the explosions and subsequent fire. Many flights landing at Ministro Pistarini International Airport, Argentina’s main international gateway, were delayed or diverted due to poor visibility.
What do we know about explosions?
Although the cause of the explosions is unknown, it is likely that they originated from one of the five factories that caught fire.
Granados told a local news network that one of the five warehouses that caught fire was a chemical plant. The other was a plastics plant, he said.
The mayor assured that authorities are trying to ensure safety in the area with more than a dozen fire extinguishers and ambulances at the scene.
According to local media, most of the injured were residents of the area, suffering minor to moderate burns and injuries caused by broken glass from the shock wave.
The municipality of Ezeiza said that “significant explosions” were recorded at the scene.
What is happening?
The provincial health ministry said hospitals in the area were working in a coordinated manner and were ready to receive the injured.
The Cuenca Alta Néstor Kirchner hospital in Buenos Aires has activated its contingency plan for catastrophic situations and is ready to intervene if necessary, the local municipality said.
Meanwhile, firefighters had to work hard to control the fire. “This is a complex fire. It will be a long fire,” Fabian Garcia, civil protection director of Buenos Aires province, was quoted by AFP as saying.
Edited by: Kieran Burke