Austria: 1 dead, 21 hurt in explosion at natural gas plant
BERLIN — An explosion Tuesday at a major natural gas facility near Austria’s border with Slovakia killed one person and left 21 others injured, and caused some gas flow disruptions to other countries, authorities said.
One person was seriously injured and 20 others were slightly hurt in the morning blast at the plant in Baumgarten an der March, east of Vienna, police said. No one was in a life-threatening condition. The facility’s operator initially said all the casualties were Austrian, but later said the one with less severe injuries include employees of contractors from six other countries.
The explosion set off a fire, which operator Gas Connect said was completely extinguished by mid-afternoon. The facility was “shut down in a controlled state and is offline,” the company said.
Police wrote on Twitter that the explosion was triggered by a “technical cause,” but didn’t elaborate and said that local authorities are investigating. Gas Connect said it also suspects an unspecified technical fault.