A strong smell of gas was reported this morning by the inhabitants of Concón, in the Valparaíso region. Several people have presented health problems, having to go to health centers.
Through social networks, the Municipality of Concón attributed the incident to an “incident at the National Oil Company (Enap).”
“As a precautionary measure, our mayor Freddy Ramírez activated the environmental emergency protocols together with the Seremi de Medio Ambiente and the Valparaíso Regional Presidential Delegation,” the municipality reported.
“So far we have treated four people here at Cesfam, all discharged with mild symptoms,” said the mayor through a video.
From the Valparaíso Environment Seremi they indicated that they are “verifying the environmental situation” together with the mayor of the commune.
ENAP statements
As a result of the incident, Enap Aconcagua Refinery issued a statement specifying that the emergency occurred this morning due to “an operational incident in a storage tank.”
“Operationally, the emergency was controlled immediately once it occurred, blocking the tank and we have maintained all the necessary safeguards considering that odors have been generated that have affected the community due to the poor condition of environmental ventilation.”
“Odor generation was punctual, but there may be residual effects in the air,” they added.
Along the same lines, they maintained “our executive staff, led by the General Manager, Julio Friedmann, is on the ground inspecting the situation together with the mayor of Concón, Seremi de Medio Ambiente, in charge of emergencies of the Presidential Delegation and SEC authorities”. .
In addition, “Enap began an analysis to determine the causes of the event. As a company that always tries to ensure the safety of each of its processes, we reiterate our apologies to our neighbors,” they concluded.
