Five days after the explosion at Bergerac powder snow which injured eight people, the circumstances seem to be becoming clearer. This Monday, August 8, the management of Eurenco indicates that a bright “flash” would have triggered a series of three explosions, during a pipe assembly site at the Manuco factory, on the Eurenco site. There would have been a first explosion, then a fire followed by two other explosions.
The Manuco company specializes in the manufacture of nitrocellulose, used in the composition of powders and explosives. On Wednesday evening, the group specified that “the nitrocellulose contained in a workshop caught fire”.
Piping assembly work
According to Eurenco, workers were assembling pipes on a tank at the time of the accident. According to the first testimonies collected during the internal investigation, this is where the flash would have occurred. “An operation to reconnect a new pipe to the existing installations was carried out”, says the group. The circumstances remain to be clarified but this operation would have triggered the first explosion, in the northern part of the building.
The site was shut down at the time of the accident to carry out these operations. Access to the area remains limited pending the results of the investigation by the Bergerac prosecutor’s office. The rehabilitation of the facilities could take “two to three months”says the group.