The overfilled knockout drum then spilled liquid into a relief line that was not designed to contain such a fl ow. The resultant failure released about 20 metric tons of hydrocarbon into the operating plant. The vapor cloud produced by this release eventually ignited about 110 meters away from the rupture, causing a major explosion equivalent to 4 metric tons of high explosive.
The explosion caused $80 million damage and injured 26 people (thankfully, one seriously)