2018 Borgo Panigale Explosion
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On 6 August 2018, the collision of a
liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...
(LPG)
road tanker A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also design ...
with an
articulated lorry A semi-trailer truck (also known by a wide variety of other terms – see below) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a ...
carrying flammable solvents and a car transporter resulted in a huge explosion on the
A14 motorway This is a list of roads designated A14. * A014 road (Argentina), a beltway ring-road around San Juan, San Juan Province * A14 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Hörbranz and the German Autobahn 96 to Bürs * A14 motorway (Belgium), a road ...
within
Borgo Panigale Borgo Panigal ...
, a neighbourhood of
Bologna, Italy Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
. It was a case of boiling-liquid expanding-vapour explosion (BLEVE), where nearly all the road tanker cargo combusted in a matter of seconds upon release, generating a tremendous amount of
thermal radiation Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation emitted by the thermal motion of particles in matter. All matter with a temperature greater than absolute zero emits thermal radiation. The emission of energy arises from a combination of electro ...
. The accident killed two people, injured 145 and caused significant damage to the surrounding commercial and residential area. One span of the viaduct where it happened collapsed and a gash opened in the motorway.


Vehicle collision

The collision involved a
liquefied petroleum gas Liquefied petroleum gas, also referred to as liquid petroleum gas (LPG or LP gas), is a fuel gas which contains a flammable mixture of hydrocarbon gases, specifically propane, Butane, ''n''-butane and isobutane. It can also contain some ...
(LPG)
road tanker A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck (American English) or tanker (British English) is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also design ...
, another
articulated lorry A semi-trailer truck (also known by a wide variety of other terms – see below) is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a ...
carrying flammable solvents and a car transporter. It took place on the northbound carriageway of the ''ramo Casalecchio'' (Casalecchio branch) of the
A14 motorway This is a list of roads designated A14. * A014 road (Argentina), a beltway ring-road around San Juan, San Juan Province * A14 motorway (Austria), a road connecting Hörbranz and the German Autobahn 96 to Bürs * A14 motorway (Belgium), a road ...
, which connects the A1 motorway to the A14 main route, within
Borgo Panigale Borgo Panigal ...
, a neighbourhood of
Bologna, Italy Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
. The stretch of motorway where the collision occurred crosses a densely populated area in the outskirts of Bologna and is flanked on both sides by the Tangenziale di Bologna, or Bologna ring road. Luckily, many businesses were closed due to the summer holidays. The collision was caused by the road tanker, which rear-ended a near-stationary lorry laden with class-3 flammable solvents in intermediate bulk containers (IBC). Pushed from behind by the impact, the second lorry rear-ended the car transporter directly in front. The crash occurred at 1:44 pm. The cause of the collision is unknown. Cameras captured the tanker heading straight into the preceding vehicle, which possibly eliminates the hypothesis of mechanical failure, because steering and brakes would have needed to fail at the same time. Later it emerged that the driver was not in contravention to applicable rest regulations and speed limit. The tanker
pressure vessel A pressure vessel is a container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from the ambient pressure. Construction methods and materials may be chosen to suit the pressure application, and will depend on the size o ...
was also mechanically sound. The amount of LPG in the tanker was estimated at 23 or 25 tonnes.


Initial fire and BLEVE

The cargo of the rear-ended lorry ignited immediately, which resulted in a large
pool fire A pool fire is a type of diffusion flame where a layer of volatile liquid fuel is evaporating and burning. The fuel layer can be either on a horizontal solid substrate or floating on a higher-density liquid, usually water. Pool fires are an importan ...
engulfing the affected vehicles. The source of ignition was either engine or exhaust hot surfaces or mechanical sparks. By chance, police units were on the spot at the time of the collision and diverted traffic away, both on the motorway and the adjacent urban roads. The pressure vessel of the LPG tanker did not breach as a direct consequence of the crash. However, it was surrounded by flames from the pool fire. The vessel was not fire-proofed nor did it have a
relief valve A relief valve or pressure relief valve (PRV) is a type of safety valve used to control or limit the pressure in a system; excessive pressure might otherwise build up and create a process upset, instrument or equipment failure, explosion, or fir ...
. Neither arrangement is required by Italian regulations or in the international ADR agreement. Seven minutes and 20 seconds after the collision, the tank failed due to loss of mechanical properties caused by external heating. This resulted in a massive BLEVE.
Fire services A fire department (North American English) or fire brigade ( Commonwealth English), also known as a fire company, fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention an ...
did not have sufficient time to reach the location before the explosion. The fireball diameter was estimated at more than and its height above ground at . Its duration was around 8 seconds. This BLEVE is notable because it caused the collapse of the span of
viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide ...
on which it happened. Computer simulations have assessed a blast overpressure of about 500 
kPa The pascal (symbol: Pa) is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). It is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is an SI ...
at short distances from the source, in fact a value sufficient to cause the failure of a road bridge like the one involved in the explosion.


Aftermath

Given the tremendous thermal radiation, people within a radius of from the exploded road tanker would have died or received major injuries. The explosion sent fragments hundreds of meters away and shattered windows up to away. Buildings were damaged as far as away. A nearby car dealer lot caught fire and all the cars on sale were destroyed as a consequence. A second car dealer on-sale stock was also affected. Fires were extinguished two hours after the explosion. The road tanker driver died on the spot upon the first collision. A second victim died on 14 August. Thirteen among those hospitalized were policemen (11
carabinieri The Carabinieri (, also , ; formally ''Arma dei Carabinieri'', "Arm of Carabineers"; previously ''Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali'', "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign poli ...
and two from the Polizia Stradale, or the Italian highway patrol). Prime minister
Giuseppe Conte Giuseppe Conte (; born 8 August 1964) is an Italian jurist, academic, and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy, prime minister of Italy from June 2018 to February 2021. He has been the president of the Five Star Movement (M5S) sin ...
visited the injured at the
Ospedale Maggiore The Policlinico of Milan (), also known as Ospedale Maggiore di Milano or Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, is the public district general hospital in Milan. It is one of the oldest hospitals in Italy, founded by Francesco I of the Ho ...
in
Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...
, where most of the wounded had been hospitalized, and the burn unit in
Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...
. The other burn victims had been transported to the
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
burn unit.


References


Further reading

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