Chemical plant explodes near New Iberia Louisiana

NEW IBERIA, LA (WAFB) -

NEW IBERIA, La. (AP) - State police say nobody was hurt when explosions rocked a Multi-Chem Corp. chemical plant in a New Iberia industrial park Tuesday afternoon.

Trooper Stephen Hammons says all employees are accounted for. He says Iberia Regional Airport was closed, and a 1-mile area around the plant was evacuated. Hammons says officials will allow the fire to burn out on its own.

The trooper said earlier reports from medical personnel that some workers at the plant had been injured appear to have been incorrect.

Iberia Parish sheriff's deputies closed Louisiana Highway 182 on the western side of the city, about 75 miles west of New Orleans.

The Daily Iberian newspaper reports that explosions could be heard 20 minutes after the first, which was about 4 p.m.

A spokesman for Multi-Chem Group in Houston said the company was gathering information on what happened. The company makes oilfield production chemicals


[link to www.ksla.com]