30 killed in Iran chemical plant fire: state media

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

TEHRAN (AFP) — At least 30 people were killed and 38 injured, many of them suffering severe burns, in a fire in a chemical plant in central Iran on Sunday, the state news agency IRNA said.

The fire in the cosmetics and detergent-producing plant near the town of Shazand was caused by a blast during welding work in a reservoir, IRNA said.

The accident happened at 4 pm (1130 GMT) in the plant near Shazand in the provice of Markazi, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) south of Tehran.

"Witnesses said a 60,000-litre chemical reservoir exploded," IRNA said, adding that all the equipment in the factory and its adjacent plant caught fire.

A local rescuer told IRNA that the injured were rushed to a nearby hospital and that 23 people had suffered 70 to 100...