On 21 September 2001, an explosion occurred at the AZF (French initialism for AZote Fertilisant, i.e. nitrogen fertiliser) fertiliser factory in Toulouse, France, belonging to the Grande Paroisse branch of the Total group. Three hundred tonnes of ammonium nitrate was stored (the maximum capacity was 2,000 tonnes) in hangar 221 222. The entire factory was destroyed, making a crater with a depth of about 7 m and a diameter of 40 m. Steel girders were found 3 km away from the explosion site. The blast measured 3.4 on the Richter scale, with an estimated power equivalent to 20-40 tons of TNT. The explosion was heard 80 km (50 miles) away. Due to the acoustics of the hills and the loud sound, the explosion was reported as occurring in multiple places. Police at first believed that at least five bombs had simultaneously gone off. There is still controversy over the exact number of explosions. The factory was close to the city: one of the most inhabited areas, Le Mirail, is 1 km away. Around ten percent of the inhabitants of Toulouse had to be evacuated.

Victims

The disaster caused 31 deaths, about 30 seriously wounded, and 2,500 light casualties. Two thirds of the city's windows were shattered, causing 70 eye wounds. The total damages paid by insurance groups exceeded 1.5 billion euros.

Investigation

On 4 October 2001, France's then Environment Minister Yves Cochet announced that the explosion "may have been a terrorist attack" (the explosion occurred ten days after the September 11 attacks) and identified Hassan Jandoubi, a plant sub-contractor killed in the blast, as a person under investigation. French anti-terrorist authorities were prohibited by the Toulouse prosecutor from searching Jandoubi's house for five days after the incident. Police declared that Jandoubi had "possible Islamic fundamentalist sympathies", yet by the time the search was finally conducted, they said that Jandoubi's girlfriend had disposed of all traces of his clothes and photos. Authorities described the delay as damaging to the investigation. In May 2006, the official investigation released a final report supporting a chemical accident theory in which sodium dichlorocyanurate mixed with 500 kg of ammonium nitrate spilled on the main nitrate pile 20 minutes before the explosion.