A fatal industrial accident at MOL Group’s petrochemical complex in Tiszaujváros, Hungary, has resulted in one death and nine injuries after an explosion during activities linked to restarting a production unit. Company officials said the incident occurred while work was being carried out to restart operations.
The explosion took place at MOL Petrolkemia’s Olefin 1 facility during maintenance and life-extension works. Preliminary information provided by the company indicated the production unit was not operating at the time of the accident, and early findings pointed to a hydrocarbon-related explosion within a pipeline system.
Emergency services received reports of the blast at around 8:45 AM. Firefighters brought the resulting fire under control about two hours later, and authorities confirmed that one person died in the accident.
Of the nine injured people, one remains in critical condition. Four suffered serious injuries, while four others sustained lighter burns.
MOL Chief Executive Officer Zsolt Hernadi said there is currently no evidence of external interference and described the event as an industrial accident. He added that emergency gas flaring procedures were activated immediately after the explosion and that the affected production unit was shut down as part of standard safety measures.
Investigations into the cause of the explosion are underway with state authorities and company specialists working alongside government experts. Local media reports indicated that an initial possible source of the blast could be a pyro-gasoline pipeline, while disaster management authorities said the incident did not pose a threat to nearby residents despite large amounts of black smoke rising from the site.
MOL’s petrochemical complex in Tiszaujváros is among Hungary’s major industrial sites, producing olefins including ethylene and propylene, as well as plastics, synthetic rubber and polyol products. The complex added a new polyol production plant that entered operation in 2024.
