One dead, several injured in explosion at Rotterdam port

ROTTERDAM - An explosion at a company in the Rotterdam port area has left one person dead and several others injured. The incident occurred at around 11:30 a.m. on the grounds of Gunvor Energy, a refinery and fuel terminal on Moezelweg.

According to the company, an external maintenance crew was working on several pipelines near the tank storage area when something apparently went wrong while disconnecting the lines. The explosion caused visible damage to a storage tank.

Police confirmed one fatality but have not yet released further details about the victim or the exact number of people injured.

Earlier the same day, a power outage affected the same area, forcing a large ExxonMobil refinery to temporarily shut down all processes and flare gases. A transformer station also briefly caught fire, possibly because of a power surge.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority says the power outage and the explosion are unrelated.