Spain chemical depot blaze sparks stay-at-home order for almost 80,000

AFP | Alcala De Guadaira

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Spanish authorities told almost 80,000 residents near the southern city of Seville to stay indoors yesterday as a fire at a chemical products warehouse spread a giant plume of smoke.

Emergency services said they received reports in the early afternoon of black smoke billowing from an industrial estate in Alcala de Guadaira, a town of around 77,000 people southeast of Seville.

The estate was evacuated and no injuries recorded, they added in a statement, asking the town’s population to “close doors and windows to prevent the smoke entering... and stay at home”.

The blaze comes after more than 160,000 people near Barcelona were told to stay indoors for nearly seven hours on Saturday after a fire at an industrial warehouse released a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area.