Ghislenghien (; ) is a small town of

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

and a district of the municipality of Ath, located in the province of Hainaut,

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It has about 3000 inhabitants.

Gas explosion

On 30 July 2004 a high-pressure natural gas

pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...

operated at a pressure of 70 bar ruptured following recent third party damage. 24 people died as a result and 150 survivors were hospitalised, most with severe burns. It is thought that damage to the pipeline occurred during the final stages of a car park construction project. Notice of the work had been given to the pipeline operator, Fluxys, and one of their operatives had regularly attended the site through the course of the project. Damage to the pipeline probably occurred as a mechanical soil stabiliser was driven over it or near by. This resulted in several evenly spaced (but not full depth) gouges in the steel wall of the pipeline. Two weeks after the completion of the car park gas pressure was increased in the pipeline, which then ruptured with the fault centred on a 350 mm long gouge. Other contributing factors to the accident may have been a reduced cover over the pipeline as a result of levelling, the way information was passed down the sub-contracting chain to workers and the frequency and adequacy of supervision by the pipeline operator at the site.

References

Ath Former municipalities of Hainaut (province) Man-made disasters in Belgium Pipeline accidents 2004 in Belgium 2004 industrial disasters 2004 disasters in Belgium {{Hainaut-geo-stub