Explosion occurs at seasoning powder maker in southern Vietnam

An explosion occurred at a foreign-invested sodium glutamate plant in Vietnam's southern Dong Nai province on Saturday morning, the provincial Fire Prevention and Fire Department said.

After the explosion at a heat-cooling tower of the plant of Vedan Vietnam Company in Long Thanh District, a fierce fire broke out, sending a plume of black smoke tens of meters into the sky, and making hundreds of workers run out of the plant.

The fire was put under control in one hour, and the accident caused no causalities or injuries.

Local relevant agencies are probing reasons for the explosion and fire, and calculating property losses caused by the incident.

A total of 2,460 fires and explosions broke out across Vietnam in the first nine months of this year, killing 90 people and injuring 216 others, while leaving losses of some 1,058 billion Vietnamese dong (47.4 million U.S. dollars), said the country's Fire Prevention and Fight Department. Endit