LEGHORN – An explosion at this Tuscan port killed two workers on Wednesday afternoon with a third believed to be in a critical condition, police said. Fire brigades and emergency services were said to be attending the scene, firefighters said.

 Shortly before 2 p.m. a loud bang was heard in various areas of the city. It was the result of an explosion from one of the tankers at the Neri company’s coastal depot in Livorno, with speculation that it may have been caused by a build-up of gas in the cistern.

 Tanker 62, where the accident took place, contained ethyl acetate, a hugely flammable substance. Two fire brigade units were on the scene attempting to secure the area.  

 Two workers were killed by the blast. The first is believed to have died instantly, however, emergency services found the second man alive when they reached the area, though he died shortly afterwards despite the efforts of paramedics.

 The workers are reported to have been employees of Labromare, a land reclamation company. They are believed, in the initial reconstruction, to have been carrying out maintenance work on the tank.  

 Italy has one of the worst rates of workplace accident rates in Europe. In Aug 2017, the Istituto Nazionale per L'Assicurazione contro gli Infortuni sul Lavoro (INAIL) reported that the number of deaths from workplace incidents had risen 5.2 per cent in the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period in 2016.

 jp-tw