Explosion in Czech Republic refinery kills 6; many injured

Six people were killed in a blast at Unipetrol, a refinery and chemicals group near Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, on Thursday, March 22, while many were injured. Sources in Czech Fire Rescue Service said. The reason for the blast was not known immediately.

The news about the blast was also confirmed by Unipetrol which said the tragedy occurred in Kralupy nad Vltavou, which is located around 31 kilometres north of Prague.

More details about the explosion were awaited from the plant which has an annual capacity of 3.2 million tonnes of oil, Reuters said. Unipetrol has another plant in Litvinov in the north-western Czech Republic.

The firefighting authorities said the explosion took place in a storage tank and there was no possibility of additional explosions. Two of the injured were taken to the hospital, said the fire department, Reuters added.

The Czech Republic is a small landlocked country in central Europe with a population of around 10.6 million.

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