THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Local authorities warned residents to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut Wednesday as a major blaze and explosions ripped through a chemical storage and packing company.


Television images show a towering plume of thick smoke churning out of the fire and several powerful blasts, apparently as storage tanks exploded.

The fire started in the early afternoon at Chemie-Pack Nederland BV in an industrial estate in the southern town of Moerdijk.

Moerdijk mayor Wim Denie told a press conference that measurements had not detected fumes that could form a health risk.

Police spokesman Willem van Hooijdonk told national broadcaster NOS that "poisonous, flammable and corrosive" chemicals were stored at the company, but gave no further details.

Police said none of the company's 50 staff were injured. The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Residents in parts of the nearby city of Dordrecht also were warned to keep windows and doors shut. Barges using the nearby Hollands Diep waterway were ordered to stop.

Dozens of firefighters were tackling the blaze and the government sent three airforce firefighting trucks to the scene.

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