On April 30th, a lightning strike incident occurs at the Formosa Petrochemical Sixth Naptha Cracking Plant, Mailiao facility oil refineries. The fire was immediately extinguished with no casualty reported. Deputy Magistrate Mr. Shi KeHe said, although the incident was caused by natural disaster, Formosa Petrochemical should improve its industry safety standard to reinsure the safety of costal villagers, neighbor villages, and its frontline staff.
On April 30th morning, at 6:02am, one of the oil refineries was struck by lightning, causes smoke and fire. The automatic fire extinguishing system immediately engaged and extinguished the fire on 6:07am. Yunlin County Fire Bureau and Environmental
Protection Bureau immediately arrive the scene and attempt to collect evident. The preliminary official report suggested the incident was cause purely by lightning strike.
Deputy Magistrate Shi point out, Formosa Petrochemical should further improve its safety regulation to minimize casualty and damages of disaster aftermath. Besides the standard regulation require to submit notice immediately after an incident occur, Formosa Petrochemical should further enhance its facility safety installment against disaster such as earthquake, lightning strike, and tsunami.
Investigation team sent by the Environmental Protection Bureau collect air quality sample at the downwind area from the facility, analysis composition and concentration of the pollutants. In addition, county government also asks Formosa Petrochemical inspect facility fire protection system to minimize disaster spread potential in the future, thus ensure safety of the facility.