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AZF (French
initialism An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for ''AZote Fertilisant'', i.e. nitrogen
fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil ...
) was the name of a
chemical factory A chemical plant is an industrial process plant that manufactures (or otherwise processes) chemicals, usually on a large scale. The general objective of a chemical plant is to create new material wealth via the chemical or biological transfor ...
in
Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Pari ...
, France, which exploded on 21 September 2001. The blast was equivalent to 20-40 tons of TNT, producing an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.4, and was heard 80 km away (50 miles). The incident resulted in 29 deaths and left 2,500 wounded. Damages paid by insurance companies exceeded 1.5 billion euros. Although authorities initially treated the incident as an accident, the then Environment Minister speculated that the explosion may have been "a terrorist attack" in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The body of a worker known to harbor Islamic fundamentalist sympathies was found in the blast and investigated, although official investigation found the blast to be accidental. In spring of 2004, a terrorist group adopted the same name and threatened the French government with bombings.


Toulouse chemical factory explosion

On 21 September 2001, an explosion occurred in the AZF fertiliser factory in Toulouse, France, belonging to the ''Grande Paroisse'' branch of the
Total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are com ...
group. Three hundred tonnes of
ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, although it does not form hydrates. It is p ...
was stored (the maximum capacity was 2,000 tonnes) in hangar #221. The whole factory was destroyed making a crater with a depth about 7 m (23 ft) and a diameter of 40 m (131 ft); steel girders were found 3 km away from the explosion. The blast measured 3.4 on the Richter scale, with an estimated power equivalent to 20-40 tons of TNT. The explosion was heard 80 km away (50 miles). Due to the acoustics of the hills and the large sound, the explosion was reported as occurring in multiple places. Police at first believed that at least five bombs had simultaneously gone off. There is still controversy over the exact number of explosions. The factory was close to the city: one of the most inhabited areas, ''Le Mirail'', is just one kilometre away (0.6 miles). Several schools, one university campus, one hospital and a psychiatric hospital had to be evacuated.


Victims

The disaster caused 29 deaths (28 from the factory, 1 secondary school pupil from a neighbouring school), about 30 seriously wounded, and 2,500 light casualties.government reportarchive
Two thirds of the city's windows were shattered, causing 70 eye wounds. The complete environmental consequences of the catastrophe are not yet fully known. The total damages paid by insurance groups currently exceed 1.5 billion euros.


Investigation

On 4 October 2001, France's then Environment Minister
Yves Cochet Yves Cochet (; born 15 February 1946) is a French politician, member of Europe Écologie–The Greens. He was minister in the government of Lionel Jospin. On 6 December 2011, he was elected member of the European Parliament (MEP). He studied M ...
announced that the explosion "may have been a terrorist attack" (the explosion occurred in the weeks following the September 11 attacks) and identified Hassan Jandoubi, a plant sub-contractor killed in the blast, as a person under investigation. French anti-terrorist authorities were prohibited by the Toulouse prosecutor from searching Jandoubi's house for five days after the incident.Paul Seabrigh
What Explosion?
London Review of Books Nov 1 2001
Police declared that Jandoubi had "possible Islamic fundamentalist sympathies," yet by the time the search was finally conducted, they alleged that Jandoubi's girlfriend had disposed of all traces of his clothes or photos. French authorities described the delay as damaging to the investigation.Paul Seabrigh
AZF: L'enquête assassinée
AZF:l'enquête assassinée

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by t ...
Oct 4 2001
Explosion in France may have been Terrorism
The Michigan Daily Oct 5 2001

The Guardian Oct 5 2001


See also

*
Ammonium nitrate disasters __FORCETOC__ When heated, ammonium nitrate decomposes non-explosively into gases of oxygen, nitrogen, and water vapor; however, it can be induced to decompose explosively by detonation into nitrous oxide and water vapor. Large stockpiles of the mat ...


References


Further reading

*
Daniel Dissy
"AZF-Toulouse, Quelle vérité ?", 2006, , Library of Congress Control No : 2007370387. * Franck Hériot & Jean-Christian Tirat
"AZF: L'enquête assassinée",Plon.


External links

*
Unofficial AZF website
*
AZF -a judicial fiasco ? (French News, 8.Oct.2008)
*
AZF: L'enquête assassinée
{{DEFAULTSORT:AZF Buildings and structures in Toulouse Chemical plants Companies based in Occitania (administrative region) Manufacturing plants in France TotalEnergies