South Trinidad rocked by NiQuan explosion

AN explosion at the recently-commissioned NiQuan Energy Ltd plant in Pointe-a-Pierre left many residents of South Trinidad asking, “What was that noise?”

The company’s vice president of corporate affairs Malcolm Wells confirmed to Newsday that there was an explosion.

Residents of Vistabella, La Romaine, Gasparillo, Tarouba, Siparia and even La Brea posted on social media that they heard the explosion just after 6 am.

Some said they thought there had been an earthquake, as their houses “rocked.”

Several social media users also posted videos showing smoke coming from the gas-to-liquids plant, which was opened on March 8.

Roads leading to the plant have been blocked off and fire officials are at the scene.

A police Facebook post said, “The public is advised to exercise caution when approaching the Petrotrin compound and environs following an incident at the site earlier this morning.

“Please seek alternative routes or avoid venturing into that area as first responders are on the scene and vehicular traffic has been halted as a result.”

Wells told Newsday, “There has been an incident at the plant. No casualties have been reported. The incident area has been contained and made safe and our safety team is currently in the process of identifying the cause.

“I need to hear what the safety team says before I can comment further, but that’s the situation as it currently stands.”

More on this as it becomes available.