FOUR PERSONS KILLED IN EXPLOSION AT YEREVAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000330 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD AM SUBJECT: FOUR PERSONS KILLED IN EXPLOSION AT YEREVAN CHEMICAL PLANT SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. At least four persons were killed and more than a dozen injured in a late-afternoon explosion at Yerevan's Nairit chemical plant on May 14. Company officials said the cause is not yet known. This is Armenia's worst industrial accident since the Soviet era, though obsolete equipment and poor safety standards at this Soviet-era facility have resulted in previous accidents. The plant, which currently employs 1,000 persons, had recently reopened after being closed since December due to the slowing economy. The GOAM claims the explosion will present no health or environmental threat. End Summary. SMOKE SEEN AT EMBASSY -------------- ¶2. At about 6:40 pm on May 14, an explosion at the sprawling Nairit chemical plant in Yerevan killed at least four persons. A second explosion occurred five minutes later and a third approximately two hours after that. Three victims were found shortly after the explosion, and a fourth the following day. The powerful blasts overturned cars in the surrounding area and produced an intense fire that took several hours to douse; seventeen firefighters and rescue workers suffered burns and smoke poisoning while trying to put it out. Eight others were also hospitalized with other injuries. The plant is located nearly due east of the Embassy, from where a thick plume of black smoke was visible in the early evening. We have not yet heard about the extent of the damage to the plant, though it seems likely to be extensive. EMERGENCY RESPONSE -------------- ¶3. Police and emergency workers evacuated the area surrounding the plant following the explosion. Yerevan's Chief of Police told RSO that he was on the scene a short time after the accident and that the risk of toxic fume emissions was very low, at least to persons farther removed from the accident scene. Doctors from the Nairi Medical Center were called over to Erebuni Medical Center, the closest facility to the accident, to attend to injuries, most related to respiratory impairments. ¶4. This is the worst industrial accident of its kind in Armenia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, the plant sometimes faces emergency situations due to its obsolete Soviet-era equipment and poor safety standards. In December 2006, two Nairit reservoirs containing inflammable industrial waste caught fire that raged for two days, though nobody was hurt in that incident. GOAM CLAIMS NO HEALTH OR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS -------------- - ¶5. Ministry of Health officials informed the embassy in the hours after the explosions that there was no danger to residents outside the immediate vicinity of the plant. On Friday, radio reports indicated that the city's air conditions were normal. The major chemical released was reportedly acetylene, which is highly inflammable but not particularly toxic, unless people are exposed to it in large concentrations or were in the immediate vicinity of the explosion (Note: This would likely explain the intensity of the fire. End Note). Karine Danielian, leader of an environmental NGO, told Emboffs that she had received a large number of phone calls from nearby residents in the hours after the explosion, complaining of a strong smell of chemicals in the air, and the next day received calls reporting allergies ostensibly related to the chemical emissions. CAUSE NOT CLEAR -------------- ¶6. The cause of the accident is not yet known. Local television stations speculated that it was a gas explosion. However, the production process for these chemicals--used primarily in the production of synthetic rubber--is inherently dangerous and fire-prone, especially in combination with lax safety standards, outdated equipment and inadequate protective gear. RECENTLY REOPENED -------------- ¶7. This accident occurred approximately three weeks after the Nairit facility, Armenia's largest chemical plant, resumed operation after a nearly five-month shutdown that management attributed to the global economic crisis. While production YEREVAN 00000330 002 OF 002 increased by over 20 percent in 2007 and 2008 compared to prior years, market prices for rubber--and the plant's sales--fell by 60 percent between October 2008 and March ¶2009. In December the plant closed and furloughed much of its workforce of nearly 2,000 persons (the firm's total employment is close to 2,800). The plant currently employs approximately 1,000 persons and was operating at half capacity at the time of the explosion. ¶8. The plant is owned by the UK-registered Rhinoville Property Ltd, with the GOAM holding a ten percent stake. Nairit nearly declared bankruptcy in March, and management claims it was still losing money after it resumed operations in late April. The GOAM has been supportive of the plant's revival, and Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian, visiting the plant on April 30, expressed the GOAM's support for Nairit, saying that its survival is "an essential development for the state." COMMENT -------------- ¶9. Beyond the obvious tragedy of at least four deaths and over a dozen injuries, the explosion at the Nairit plant is also likely to shut down production indefinitely, putting up to 1,000 persons out of work in the midst of a deepening recession. It will also likely require millions of dollars in repairs, raising the question of whether it will in fact be restored or will instead join the hulks of abandoned Soviet-era factories that dot the Armenian landscape. While the cause of the accident is not yet known, we hope it will at least bring some attention and reform to the antiquated condition and inadequate safety standards in many Armenian factories, as well as the tradeoff many workers in this country are compelled to make with respect to health and safety as the price of finding employment. The accident also puts to a test the GOAM's emergency response capabilities; injuries to 17 firefighters and other emergency responders--many possibly due to poor training, equipment and procedures--are not an encouraging indicator. End Comment. YOVANOVITCH