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Investigators: explosion at Houston chemical plant accidental

Xinhua, August 20, 2015 Adjust font size:

The exact cause of Friday's explosion at a chemical plant warehouse in the U.S. city of Conroe near Houston remains unknown, but investigators confirmed on Wednesday that it was an accident.

Investigators believed that the trigger of the fire and explosion could have been oily rags stored at the warehouse, or a problem with electrical wiring or gas-powered equipment, according to local TV station ABC13.

Fire officials of Conroe, a city about 60 km north of Houston, are working to determine the main cause and said there is no concern about public safety.

"We are working to rule out possibilities," Conroe Fire Marshal Mike Legoudes told a news conference Wednesday. "Hopefully, we can get to the cause."

The fire started at about 4:30 p.m. local time on Friday inside a locked warehouse on the mostly undeveloped southeast side of the city. A storage tank holding an unidentified chemical near the building ruptured during the blaze, causing an explosion that added to the thick, black smoke in the air.

The fire, which took fire fighters about two hours to bring under control, caused an estimated 3 million U.S. dollars in damage. No one was injured in the accident as everyone had left about an hour before the explosion.

Officials of the chemical plant, DrillChem Drilling Solutions, are not ready to release the names of specific chemicals stored and used in the facility.

The plant warehouse had passed inspections before the blast, fire officials said, adding that there were no records that the company had been investigated previously for problems with workplace safety.

Drillchem, which has been operating for more than two years, packages and stores chemicals used as lubricants and sealants in drilling operations. Endi