SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Fears in Spain As Explosion Unleashes Orange Chemical Cloud over Catalonia
As the cloud began to dissipate an order was lifted that had told more than 60,000 residents to stay indoors and shut off ventilation
Feb 11, 2015
Tens of thousands of local residents in the northern region of Catalonia in Spain were told to stay indoors on Thursday after an explosion at a chemical warehouse unleashed a toxic orange cloud over a wide area covering approximately six towns.
According to a spokeswoman from Catalonia's regional fire department, the chemical blast occurred when nitric acid and ferric chloride got mixed while they were being delivered to a warehouse in the city of Igualada.
The Guardian reports:
Spain's emergency services told residents to close their windows and seal off any means of ventilation. "This is not a game," they tweeted. "Don't put yourself in danger to take pictures of the cloud outside."
Initial reports had described the cloud as toxic, but Ramon Espadaler of Catalonia's interior ministry later told reporters that the chemicals were simply irritants. "Most likely it will cause itchy eyes and a runny nose, but no choking sensation."
Whether the warnings offered comfort to locals was not immediately clear. As the cloud began to dissipate, officials partially lifted the safety order but continued to advise children, seniors and pregnant women to stay inside.
Alarming photos of the cloud were posted to social media sites:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Tens of thousands of local residents in the northern region of Catalonia in Spain were told to stay indoors on Thursday after an explosion at a chemical warehouse unleashed a toxic orange cloud over a wide area covering approximately six towns.
According to a spokeswoman from Catalonia's regional fire department, the chemical blast occurred when nitric acid and ferric chloride got mixed while they were being delivered to a warehouse in the city of Igualada.
The Guardian reports:
Spain's emergency services told residents to close their windows and seal off any means of ventilation. "This is not a game," they tweeted. "Don't put yourself in danger to take pictures of the cloud outside."
Initial reports had described the cloud as toxic, but Ramon Espadaler of Catalonia's interior ministry later told reporters that the chemicals were simply irritants. "Most likely it will cause itchy eyes and a runny nose, but no choking sensation."
Whether the warnings offered comfort to locals was not immediately clear. As the cloud began to dissipate, officials partially lifted the safety order but continued to advise children, seniors and pregnant women to stay inside.
Alarming photos of the cloud were posted to social media sites:
Tens of thousands of local residents in the northern region of Catalonia in Spain were told to stay indoors on Thursday after an explosion at a chemical warehouse unleashed a toxic orange cloud over a wide area covering approximately six towns.
According to a spokeswoman from Catalonia's regional fire department, the chemical blast occurred when nitric acid and ferric chloride got mixed while they were being delivered to a warehouse in the city of Igualada.
The Guardian reports:
Spain's emergency services told residents to close their windows and seal off any means of ventilation. "This is not a game," they tweeted. "Don't put yourself in danger to take pictures of the cloud outside."
Initial reports had described the cloud as toxic, but Ramon Espadaler of Catalonia's interior ministry later told reporters that the chemicals were simply irritants. "Most likely it will cause itchy eyes and a runny nose, but no choking sensation."
Whether the warnings offered comfort to locals was not immediately clear. As the cloud began to dissipate, officials partially lifted the safety order but continued to advise children, seniors and pregnant women to stay inside.
Alarming photos of the cloud were posted to social media sites:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.