On Thursday, it exploded in a recycling plant belonging to Returkraft AS in Kristiansand.
The explosion took place inside the bunker where the waste is emptied.
– It was all just flames, sayis maintenance manager Odd Olav Pettersen to Dagbladet.
Pettersen has an office on the fourth floor of the Returkraft building, and witnessed the explosion.
– I was sitting in a video meeting with the HR department when I heard a huge bang. The whole building shook, and I saw large wall panels fall down, Pettersen says.
His office windows are only 20 meters away from the narrow walls of the bunker.
– I followed the procedure and showed up at the gathering place, and checked if everyone had gotten out of the building.
Seven injured after explosion
Call for help
Then he heard a cry for help.
– I ran up to the outside of the emptying hall, and there was a man who was already taken care of by another. We fetched water for him, and made sure it went well. We could see that he was burnt, says Pettersen.
The injured driver is one of the two who are now at Haukeland University Hospital.
When Pettersen had made sure that the driver got help, he heard cries for help from inside the bunker.
– I ran into the emptying hall, and saw that a man had fallen from the scaffolding and into the flames in the bunker, where the explosion took place.
– There was an inferno in there.
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Pettersen says that a man stood in the scaffolding above the waste bunker, and helped the man who had fallen into the flames to get up.
– He who was standing in the scaffolding rescued the one who had fallen into the bunker, Pettersen says.
The man who fell from the scaffolding is a maintenance worker, and is the second of those who were flown to Haukeland University Hospital.
– The injured person recovered, and was then burnt. But he still walked out of the emptying hall on his own, says Petteren.
The energy recovery plant receives waste from all over the country, and annually handles 130,000 tonnes of residual waste and special waste, which is incinerated in a 30-meter-high kiln.
– A terrible sight
Assistant Operations Manager John Vetrhus was sitting in his office on the fifth floor when the explosion occurred.
– When I heard the huge bang, and saw the wall panels flying through the air, I realized that something serious had happened, Vetrhus tells Dagbladet.
He says that his instructions are to show up at the control room in such a situation.
– I met several injured people on their way out of the control room. After everyone had gotten out, I started searching the process hall to see if there were more injured people present, says Vetrhus.
FLAMES: A tanker was damaged by the explosion and was on fire. Photo: KBR / UAS Norway, Anders Martinsen / NTB
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When he did not find any more injured, he finally showed up at the gathering place after half an hour.
– We were greeted by a terrible sight, says Vetrhus.
– There were many injured people, and it was also difficult to keep track of everyone because the ambulance drove people away as soon as they came out.
The two say that it took half an hour from the time the explosion happened until they had an overview that everyone was finally out at the checkpoint.
– It was a full emergency. There were ambulances, police, health personnel and our own people on site.
Two in hospital
Seven people are injured after the explosion on Thursday. Five people have now been discharged from the hospital, CEO Odd Terje Døvik tells Dagbladet.
– Two of the injured are still at Haukeland hospital, and the extent of the damage is unclear, Døvik tells Dagbladet.
At a press briefing on Thursday, the police task force leader on the spot said that there were about 20 firefighters inside the building, who worked with extinguishing.
– There is no danger of explosion anymore, and the smoke that comes out is so diluted that it is not dangerous for people in the area, said police task leader Patrick Vollen to Dagbladet on Thursday.
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