Posted: 3/24/2006 3:27:41 AM EDT
Possible. Explosion reported at French university.
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BBC reporting one person hurt. The following is from the previous link. Updated Text: MULHOUSE, France (Reuters) - A huge explosion destroyed a research building at a French university in the eastern city of Mulhouse on Friday, injuring a large number of people, the emergency services said. Rescue workers faced thick smoke when they arrived at the institute of chemistry on the university campus, a Reuters witness said. The reason for the blast, which was heard across much of the city, was not immediately known. "There are a large number of victims," one rescuer told Reuters. No further details of casualties were available but one student in a nearby building, who gave her name only as Aude, said there "was a huge explosion and all the windows were shattered" |
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According to the website of the college, which was founded in 1822, it has 185 undergraduate students enrolled in a three-year course, 90 Phd students and a teaching staff of more than 50 academics. Of a total community of 650 people, 350 work directly in its laboratories. The school teaches a broad range organic and inorganic chemistry courses, including "safety measures in the chemical industry". I guess they are going to need to have another look at the syllabus 
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For real... "Hold my Chablis and watch this" 
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BBC Update: Chemistry School Blast Updated: 16:56, Friday March 24, 2006 A professor has reportedly been killed after a large explosion rocked a chemistry school in eastern France. Rescue services said 10 people remain unaccounted for. The blast hit the ground floor of the Superior National School of Chemistry in Mulhouse, near France's border with Germany. One student, who gave her name only as Aude, told Reuters there "was a huge explosion and all the windows were shattered." "We thought it was an earthquake," a local resident told TF1 television. "It really shook." A witness told LCI TV station he had seen "the inside (of the building) devastated. There were several seats of fire. He added: "There were screams from inside. I saw one wounded person." Firefighters faced thick smoke when they arrived at the scene but have now put out the blaze. Teachers are doing a head count of students to determine whether there are any other casualties. The surrounding area has been evacuated. |
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Chemist checking in here. After 25 years as a practicing organic chemist I have seen my share of lab explosions. From the reports this one was huge, more like an industrial accident than your typical lab experiment gone wrong. Assuming this was not some illegal bomb making my best bet would be a large solvent related flash fire/explosion. We had one at my old employer, a pharmaceutical research lab. I was working across the hall in my lab when I heard a roar and the concrete floor shook. I went out in the hall to see what happened and saw most of the ceiling tiles blown down and the lab opposite me filled with smoke. It turned out that an ether still in use had built up some pressure pushing out a stopper and shot hot ether inside of a hood. Once the ether vapor hit the heating mantle it caused a flash fire blowing out the hood door and a large window in the lab which landed in the parking lot. Fortunately no one was seriously injured. All of this damage from approximately 1 pint of ether. Rich V |