Three injured, two serious, in explosion at chemistry lab in Tarragona university

An explosion in the practical laboratory of the Faculty of Chemistry of the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), on Marcel·lí Domingo Street in Tarragona, has caused three injuries on Monday morning.

Two of them, a man and a woman, are in serious condition at the Joan XXIII Hospital while another woman has been admitted to the Santa Tecla hospital in a less serious condition.

The vice-dean of the university, Fàtima Sabench, explained that the nitric acid explosion occurred during the handling of chemical products, and assured that they were working "under strict and necessary safety regulations."

"The three injured were able to shower immediately, they left on their own feet," she pointed out.

The room was evacuated and re-entry is prohibited for the time being, although there has been no major structural damage.

Seven fire fighting teams and three ambulances were dispatched to the scene. 

According to Sabench, the workers, three members of the Technical, Management and Administration and Services Staff, were transferring chemicals to prepare the material for the new academic year when one of the nitric acid bottles fell to the ground.

"The handling was being done under all the strict and necessary safety regulations, under a hood, with all personal protective equipment on, but a bottle fell to the ground and that is what caused this explosion," the vice-dean explained.

The Dean of the Faculty of Chemistry, Joan Carvajal, indicated that the employees were transferring the chemical from a five-litre bottle to smaller ones of one litre. "There is no more spillage than this liter, we also do not know if it was completely full because we were making the transfer at that time," he said.

According to the dean, nitric acid is commonly used in the laboratory and "a lot in the chemical industry." He indicated that it is not a product that presents a "special danger, apart from being a strong acid" that can generate burns. "However, beyond that, it does not involve other specific dangers," he commented.