ARMENIA RUBBER PLANT FIRE KILLS THREE: OFFICIALS

Agence France Presse
May 14 2009

A fire at a synthetic rubber plant in the Armenian capital Yerevan
killed three workers Thursday with another missing, officials said.

The fire followed an explosion during the production of the synthetic
rubber chloroprene, the Nairit plant’s press service said in a
statement.

"Three people are dead, their bodies have already been found and been
taken from the site. We are continuing to search for a fourth person
who other workers said was in the area at the time," a spokesman for
the emergency situations ministry, Nikolai Grigorian, told AFP.

Emergency Situations Minister Mher Shahgeldian told First Channel
television that the fire has been "localised" and that there was no
danger of it spreading to local homes.

He said seven people had also been wounded.

The plant said the fire posed no environmental danger.

"The incident will not have any serious ecological consequences and
there were no dangerous emissions," its statement said.

The Nairit plant, founded when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union,
is one of the country’s leading chemical manufacturers.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress