Worker Missing After Fire Erupts at Chemical Plant in Newburyport, Massachusetts

Numerous accidents, fires, and explosions have been occurring across the US over the past few months, with many of them connected to transportation of hazardous substances.

Early on Thursday morning, a fire erupted at a chemical facility in Massachusetts in the US. According to the local fire department, firefighters were called to Seqens, a pharmaceutical manufacturing company in Newburyport, at 12:45 am.

Following a chemical explosion and fire at an industrial park in Newburyport the building sustained significant structural damage.

The firefighters said there were five workers in the building at the moment of the blast. After being treated, four were taken to hospital and released. A fifth worker remained unaccounted for.

As per the organization's site, Seqens has over 20 years of experience in chemical manufacturing and has two factories in Massachusetts.

The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.

This is not the first incident involving toxic substances in the United States this year. In March, media reported that a freight train carrying hazardous substances derailed near the town of Topock in Mohave County, Arizona. Another railroad incident took place on February 3, when a train hauling 20 cars from Norfolk Southern with hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

A major fire erupted due to the derailment, leading to officials burning vinyl chloride inside five of the tanker cars to avoid a catastrophic explosion. The incident released toxic chemicals, including hydrogen chloride, phosgene, butyl acrylate, and ethylene, into the environment.