Blaze closes Dutch train stations

[Bison]

Blaze closes Dutch train stations

AFP
November 10, 2015, 6:39 am

The Hague (AFP) - Dutch firemen Monday closed three train stations and some roads in the southeast of the country when a major blaze at an industrial zone unleashed a plume of thick smoke.

"The fire at Chemelot caused a large amount of smoke," the firemen from Limbourg said on their Twitter account, as black fumes spread over several kilometres (miles).

Chemelot industrial zone is primarily devoted to chemical works, and residents were advised to close their windows and turn off their ventilation systems.

But local authorities said later that no chemicals had caught fire and no one was injured in the blaze, which reportedly started during work on a warehouse roof.

Two train stations in the town Geleen were closed and one at Sittard, as a precaution before the blaze was later brought under control.

According to the Dutch press agency ANP, the smoke caused some problems at nearby Maastricht airport, while some patients headed for a hospital in Geleen were re-routed to another medical centre.

School children were also told to stay indoors and some roads were briefly closed to traffic.