AZF factory explosion: the story of a disaster – Franceinfo

It is 10:17 am, Friday September 21, 2001. In a college south-west of Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), nobody understands the deafening detonation which has just taken place. Right next door, stopped at a red light, Pauline Miranda is in her vehicle. “At that moment, my car I feel it lift, it swerves“, she explains in 2021. Around her, on the ring road that runs alongside the factory, there is chaos and astonishment.

The explosion of 300 tons of ammonium nitrate has just wiped off the AZF plant. In what remains of her office, an employee immediately loses consciousness. Brigitte Aubert was a temporary worker, closest to the disaster. “When I woke up it was the apocalypse“, she describes. In total, 21 employees lost their lives on the site. In the following minutes, panic spreads throughout the city. In the ballet of ambulances, the Toulouse residents are trying to find their loved ones. After the explosion and the blast, 30,000 homes were affected, with a total death toll of 31.