Local resident Herbert Mandl describes the explosion on December 12, 2017 as “a hell of a detonation”, which made him immediately think of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945: “Everything shook.” “It sounded like a plane had crashed”, describes resident Gerda Ruggenthaler, “the ground vibrated for ten minutes.”
The devastating explosion happened just before 9 a.m. Eyewitnesses who spoke of a jet of flame up to 100 meters high, which might be seen as far away as Vienna, initially reported a house fire. But the actual reason quickly became apparent: the fireball had been triggered at the gas station in Baumgarten.
Violent gas explosion shocks Europe
At that time, sixty employees were on the site of the gas node. A 32-year-old technician died immediately, 22 other people suffered burns and smoke inhalation, one seriously injured person was flown to Vienna General Hospital in a rescue helicopter. In addition, a nearby Lebenshilfe workshop with 60 people had to be evacuated.
Cars start to burn
The heat was so great that cars parked around the area began to burn, says district fire service commander Georg Schicker: “When we came in the fire engine, the blue lights upstairs were almost scorched, although the distance was still very large. You can hardly imagine this enormous heat, this pulsing of the flame.”
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According to the operator, Gas Connect, an OMV subsidiary, the plant was switched to safety mode following the explosion. The national natural gas supply was covered by the storage facilities. However, transit through Austria to the south and south-eastern Europe was impaired. “The neighboring transmission line operators were informed immediately so that measures can be taken in good time,” the company said at the time.
Europe-wide hub
Baumgarten is one of the most important hubs for the European gas supply. The plant was created in 1959 from the original production station of the Zwerndorf gas field and became the largest import and transfer station for natural gas in Austria. In 2017, around 40 billion cubic meters of natural gas were handled. A third of the natural gas destined for Western Europe from Russia runs through the node.
2018: Big plans by OMV for the Baumgarten gas station
In Baumgarten, the natural gas from Russia, Norway and other countries is taken over, checked, compressed for onward transport and then brought to Germany, Italy, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary via the large transit pipelines and transported to the Austrian federal states via the primary distribution system. The distribution line network in Austria extends over almost 40,000 kilometers.
Panic on the stock markets
The explosion caused panic on the international stock exchanges. Wholesale natural gas prices rose sharply following the first agency reports regarding the explosion in Europe. One of the reasons for this was probably that the cause was initially completely unclear. At a press conference by the crisis management team, however, a police spokesman emphasized “that we do not expect a terrorist attack”.
According to Gas-Connect spokesman Andreas Rinofner, it was not yet possible to enter the station at this time. In addition to 240 volunteers from the fire brigade, police helicopters were also deployed to assess the situation from the air and to be able to help with the search for the source of the fire with live images.
Gradually, the true extent became apparent. The explosion had therefore occurred in the western area of the plant, where the filter separators were. The fire had caught six objects, some of which caught fire. Gas-Connect Managing Director Stefan Wagenhofer described the extent of the explosion on the 17-hectare area as regarding 100 by 100 meters.
The search for the cause
According to the fire brigade, the fire was only under control in the followingnoon, following which fire investigators began their work and the first indications slowly emerged. According to the managing director, this was an area in which there had recently been construction activity. From then on, a technical defect was assumed to be the cause.
According to OMV, it would take “days, not hours” for the regular gas supply to be restored. However, the gas pipelines to Italy, Germany and Hungary were put back into operation overnight. In Austria, on the other hand, the gas storage facilities, which according to the regulatory authority E-Control are well stocked, were used.
Defect in the filter system
At daybreak, everything in the natural gas station was focused on investigating the cause and assessing the damage. Forensic experts were at work, as were representatives of insurance companies and “experts from our own ranks,” it said. The first suspicions were confirmed: there was a defect in the new filter system. A chipped lid caused the explosion.
“The investigations confirmed that the filter separator that had been newly installed was really the cause or starting point of the fire,” Wagenhofer told noe.ORF.at at the time. This filter separator had a lid that had flaked off and hit another piece of equipment, “resulting in ignition, gas leakage and eventual fire.”
The dead man, a TÜV employee, had been checking the new system components at the time. The accident happened during acceptance. According to a company spokesman, there was “enormous heat development”, possibly more than 1,000 degrees. Wagenhofer ruled out that the lid had been knocked down due to a weakness in the material. “The exact cause, the closure of the lid, is still being analyzed,” it said.
Criticism of the company fire brigade
While there was still great dismay among the employees in the days that followed, criticism was also voiced – for example that there is no company fire brigade at the gas hub in Baumgarten. According to the district fire brigade commander Georg Schicker, “there is still room for improvement here. I believe that we still have a lot to do in terms of organizing the operation.”
Discussion regarding the company fire brigade
According to the guidelines of the Federal Fire Association, company fire brigades should be at the scene of the accident no later than ten minutes following the alarm is raised – ready for action. However, the Baumgarten gas station is also looked following by the OMV company fire brigade in Gänserndorf – around 15 kilometers away. The specification can therefore not be met and, according to Schicker, “of course this might lead to delays due to the travel time.”
The requirements of the authorities in terms of safety have all been complied with, and there are also agreements with the local fire brigades, “that’s why I can’t quite understand the criticism,” countered Wagenhofer. However, they were willing to discuss the proposals. The incident should be analyzed together and lessons learned, “because we can only deal with an incident like this together,” it said.
Public prosecutor’s office initiated proceedings
The public prosecutor’s office in Korneuburg initiated investigations on suspicion of negligent endangerment of the community resulting in death. During the investigation, it was found that a safety bolt on the filter system was not properly attached. It was also determined that the filter system had previously been dismantled in Carinthia and set up in Baumgarten an der March.
The cause of the explosion has not been determined
While there was always talk of a technical defect, human error now seemed to be a possible cause. The managing director of Gas Connect Austria, Stefan Wagenhofer, stuck to his argumentation of the “chain of unfortunate circumstances”. In a first statement, he said there might not be just one reason alone that triggered the explosion.
Twelve defendants in court
Almost four years following the devastating explosion, twelve defendants finally had to answer to the Korneuburg Regional Court. The accusation: You are said to have not adequately checked a filter separator from mid-2016 to December 12, 2017, the day of the gas explosion. As a result, it was always insufficiently closed. The filter separator filled with combustible natural gas that caused the explosion also lacked a safety lever.
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“Radio Lower Austria in the followingnoon”, December 2nd, 2022
In addition, a pressure flap on the closure was also screwed incorrectly, according to the Korneuburg public prosecutor. Due to the internal pressure, the filter cover burst off, which then crashed into another filter and also ripped off the cover there. The gases from the two filters then escaped and ignited.
negligent action
According to the prosecutor’s office, the twelve people caused the explosion through negligent action. The accused were accused of negligently causing a conflagration. According to the public prosecutor’s office, damage to property amounted to 50 million euros.
Turbulent trial start with twelve accused
Also on trial were four companies, some of which employed the accused at the time of the explosion. The companies are said to have made mistakes when checking assembly and documentation, for example, and not taking sufficient care of employee protection. The public prosecutor’s office applied for the imposition of association penalties.
Five guilty and many acquittals
In May 2022, the trial for four defendants ended with conditional prison sentences of ten months each. Eight of the twelve accused were acquitted. According to the judge, the large number of injured people and the high level of property damage were considered to be aggravating. Good behavior since the crime and the long duration of the proceedings had a mitigating effect.
There was also a conditional fine of 125,000 euros for a company that had installed the affected system. The fact that the association had, among other things, introduced a four-eyes principle for quick-release tests in order to prevent similar acts in the future had a mitigating effect. The other companies were acquitted. All judgments are still not final.
