On Monday night, a fire broke out in the Dunai Finomító AV3 plant. Firefighters localized the fire and are currently working in the area. There were no personal injuries, the exact cause of the accident is being investigated, Mol said in response to Index’s inquiry.
László Csőzik, mayor of Érd, first reported on the incident on his Facebook page.
Many people ask what happened at the refinery in Százhalombatta. I just spoke to the local head of disaster management, who is on his way there. We don’t know much yet. A fire broke out in one of the plants, and it was managed to be localized
wrote the mayor shortly before 11 p.m.
The locals heard an explosion, then came the smoke
According to reports from the area, an explosion could be heard first, then a large cloud of smoke rose, followed by a siren.
A quarter of an hour ago, we woke up to the fact that one of Mol’s plants exploded next to us. The sky is red from the flames
– one local resident wrote to Bors.
This is not the first incident this year
Dunai Finomító started its operations in Százhalombatta in 1965 and is one of the most important crude oil processing facilities in the country. Mol’s own facility fire department operates in the plant, which is the first to intervene in such cases, as in the current case they were also the first to intervene.
The last time there was a similar incident at the refinery was in July, when black smoke rose from the facility. At that time, increased flaring had to be carried out due to the failure of a technological equipment. Flaring is a process where gases from different sources are burned in a controlled manner – this technique is usually used for emergency blowdown or operational problems.
(Cover photo: Illuminated silhouette of Mol Nyrt.’s Danube Refinery in Száhahalombatta at sunset from Szigetcsép in July 2022. Photo: Imre Faludi / MTI)
