(Bloomberg) -- BASF SE says that an explosion and fire at its main German factory did not contaminate the area, adding that the 15 employees injured in the incident have left medical supervision.
The chemical company’s fire brigade put out the blaze at the Ludwigshafen site around 12:45 p.m. on Monday. BASF did not find any product precipitation or contamination of air, water and soil near the site, it said.
An explosion and subsequent fire occurred around mid-day Monday when an organic solvent leaked, causing a visible plume of smoke that abated roughly an hour later. BASF, which is still looking into the exact cause of the incident, has shut down and secured the affected part of the facility. The 15 employees who were slightly injured have since left BASF’s medical center after treatment, the company said.
BASF shares declined 1.7% in Frankfurt. The stock is down around 12% this year.
Ludwigshafen is the world’s biggest chemical complex. Last year, around 39,000 employees worked at the site spanning an area of some 10 square kilometers (3.9 square miles), which had an output of about 6.1 million tons of chemicals.
(Updates with additional details on incident from first paragraph.)
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