One person has died and another is seriously injured as a result of the accident in Bergüenda, in the town of Lantarón in Álava. The explosion occurred around 11:00 this Monday at the FML company, located about 44 kilometers from Vitoria, on the border between Álava and Burgos.
The deceased is an employee of the fireworks company, as reported by the Basque Police. The injured man was transferred by a helicopter from Osakidetza to the Cruces Hospital, in Barakaldo (Bizkaia), with burns on at least 60% of his body.
The company has been cordoned off as a precautionary measure by members of the Ertzaintza and fire crews and health resources have been sent to the site.
The mayor of Lantarón, Koldo Salbidea, also attended the scene of the events, explaining in statements to Efe that the explosion occurred in a company work booth and not in the warehouse that stores the pyrotechnic products. The councilor has detailed that four people work in this family business (its owner and three employees) and that the explosion has not affected any other workers. The company began its activity in 1875, according to its website, and is dedicated to the manufacture of all types of pyrotechnic material such as fireworks, rockets, torches and flares.
According to Salbidea, in the company’s security “everything was correct” and that it complied with the regulations, both municipal and those of its internal Security plan, so “there has been nothing more than this explosion.” In statements to Europa Press, he indicated that the municipality has decreed three days of official mourning after learning of the death. “There was an explosion in one of the booths and we don’t know much more,” he said, while noting that the technicians are “investigating.”
