One killed, six missing in German chemical plant blast

One person was killed and at least six others were missing after an explosion Monday at a chemical plant at BASF's headquarters in western Germany, the firm said, advising local residents to stay indoors.

The blast, which occurred around 11:30 am (0930 GMT) and triggered a huge fire, happened during work on a pipeline that transports raw materials, the global chemicals giant said in a statement.

"We regret to announce one dead, at least six injured and at least six missing," BASF executive Uwe Liebelt told reporters in Ludwigshafen.

"Firefighters are among the missing," added city fire chief Peter Friedrich at the same press conference.

A large fire and a huge column of grey smoke could be seen rising into the overcast sky from the site, a vast industrial complex with a harbour on the Rhine river.

"We have not been able to establish any danger to the population," Liebelt added, after residents in Ludwigshafen and nearby Mannheim were told to remain inside and shut doors and windows.

Local authorities had also asked nurseries and schools to keep children indoors, but no evacuations were ordered.

"Emergency services from the whole region are on the scene to prevent the fire spreading to other parts of the plant," Ludwigshafen city authorities said in a statement earlier in the day.

Firefighters, including a fireboat crew, were still trying to extinguish the flames hours after the explosion, while police had blocked off nearby roads, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

"We hope to have the fire under control by this evening," Friedrich said. "People should stay indoors until the fire is put out."

BASF said it was still investigating the precise cause of the blast.

- 'Respiratory irritations' -

The site's steam cracker units -- used in a chemical procedure to produce lighter hydrocarbons -- have been shut down for safety reasons, it added.

Ludwigshafen is a city of some 160,000 people located around 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of Frankfurt.

On its Twitter account, Ludwigshafen said that some residents had complained of respiratory irritations.

Both BASF and emergency services have been checking for pollutants in the air around the town and encountered no elevated readings, officials said.

Local authorities set up an emergency hotline for worried residents.

"It's pretty scary when something explodes here," local window cleaner Thomas Storzum told AFP. "Something can just leak out of a pipe and catch fire like that, it's pretty serious."

"BASF is relatively good, they react quickly with their own firefighters," student Stefan Veit said. "Like any big chemical company they know these things can happen and they?re ready for it."

The Landeshafen Nord site where the explosion took place is a harbour used for the transportation of combustible fluids and liquefied gases.

"We don't know exactly what was in the pipe systems" that caught fire, BASF's Liebelt told reporters, but firefighters were assuming it was the most dangerous substance handled on-site, liquified ethylene gas.

- Second incident -

On its website, the company describes the site as a "very important for BASF's supply of raw materials", where more than 2.6 million tonnes are handled each year.

The goods are unloaded from ships into the production plants via a system of pipelines.

The company employs 36,000 people in Ludwigshafen.

BASF was also grappling with a second, smaller incident at its nearby Lampertheim plant Monday where four people were injured in a gas explosion and had to be taken to hospital, DPA news agency reported.

BASF said the two incidents were not related.

The company employs over 110,000 employees worldwide, with sales of more than 70 billion euros ($77 billion) last year.

In its deadliest incident to date, nearly 600 people were killed in 1921 in an explosion at an ammonia plant near Ludwigshafen.

In 1948, 200 people died and more than 3,800 were injured when a rail tanker exploded, also at the Ludwigshafen complex.