1st LD: About 30 injured in explosion in recycling plant close to Madrid

Estimated 30 people were injured, three of them seriously, following a series of explosions on Thursday morning at a recycling plant in Arganda del Rey just to the south of Madrid, rescue services and the Spanish media reported.

Among the injured, two were reported to have suffered burns on 40 and 30 percent of their bodies, while a third person had broken pelvis in the blasts which left black smoke clearly visible over the city from a distance of over 50 kilometers away.

Rescue services also confirmed that a further 12 people were taken to hospital with various minor injuries; while the other 15 people suffering from the effects of the smoke were able to make their own way to the local hospital.

The shockwave of the blast was strong enough to break windows in a school 900 meters from the site, as well as the windows in the nearby Adolfo Suarez-Madrid Barajas airport. The explosions are reported to be heard up to 30 kilometers away.

The cause of the explosion remained unclear.The site owned by the company Requimsa, which, according to its website, specializes in "the integral management of dangerous residues, the treatment and recovery of dissolvents," while has "centers for the storage and management of dangerous residues."

The company has a complex of 10,000 square meters and Spanish media reported that the site caught fire four years ago, which firemen extinguished after "hours" of work. Endit