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irving oil
Explosion and fire rip through Canada's largest oil refinery
Four people received hospital treatment for minor injuries.
LAST UPDATE | 8 Oct 2018
AN EXPLOSION AND fire ripped through Canada’s largest refinery today in what the company which owns it called a “major incident”.
The blast was believed to be the result of a malfunction in the diesel refining section of the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick, company executive Kevin Scott said.
Officials said all the plant’s workers are accounted for after the fire, and four people received hospital treatment for minor injuries.
Images posted on social media networks showed intermittent flames and a column of black smoke rising from the refinery, the country’s largest with a production capacity of 300,000 barrels of refined products a day.
Rob Beebe, who lives near the refinery, told Radio Canada he felt his house shake, followed by a blast.
Irving Oil confirmed on Twitter that a “major incident” occurred at the refinery.
We now understand that all employees and contractors working on site have been safely accounted for.
“Several contractors are being treated for non-life threatening injuries in relation to this incident.”
Police have maintained a cordon around the plant, which is located in a residential area and close to a regional hospital.
Despite today being Canada’s Thanksgiving holiday, there were almost 3,000 workers at the plant at the time of the blast, since a major maintenance operation was taking place.
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