Blast at Total's Gonfreville refinery injures five
(Reuters) French oil and gas company Total said on Monday that a gas leak at its 247 Mbpd Gonfreville refinery in Normandy had caused an explosion that injured five workers.
The blast in northern France occurred during a scheduled maintenance work on a gas compressor, Total said, adding that emergency services were on site to contain the gas leak and fire.
"There is no risk of it spreading within or outside the site," Total said in a statement.
A union official at the site told Reuters that it was still unclear what had sparked the explosion.
"There were some workers in the vicinity and five of them were hit by the detonation," a union official said, adding that units feeding to the pipe were being shut down while firefighters try to contain the flames.
Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Michel Rose and Alexander Smith
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