Four suffered burns in a chemical accident at a paper mill in Figueira da Foz

Four people were burned, two of them in a serious condition, in an accident caused by contact with chemicals that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at the Navigator paper company in Figueira da Foz, Coimbra district, a fire service source said .

The four injured were employees of an outside company that was carrying out renovation work, an official at the paper company said.

In a conversation with the Lusa agency, the same source clarified that the accident occurred “inside the perimeter of the plant” and that there were four victims, one of whom, according to him, “is in a more serious condition and will have to be taken by helicopter” to the Hospital Center and the University of Coimbra – “they are not from Navigator” and performed “technical services”.

Regarding the possible causes of the accident, which was reported at 17:48 this Tuesday, the official Navigator source emphasized that they have not yet been established, but stressed that the maintenance in question “is a completely routine task.”

The same source assured that there was no explosion and that the company’s internal rescue resources “worked immediately” before external resources arrived.

A source from the Subregional Command for Emergency Situations and Civil Protection of Coimbra updated the Lusa agency with media information on the ground at around 19:30 on Tuesday, reporting that there were four wounded, who were treated by 28 operational personnel. and 11 vehicles from firefighters and volunteers from Figueira da Foz, the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM) and the Portuguese Red Cross, supported by a helicopter.

The Navigator paper mill is the largest manufacturing plant in Figueira da Foz and is located in the south of this coastal municipality in the Coimbra region.