An investigation is under way in the oil refinery in Sisak, some 50 kilometres southeast of Zagreb, where on Monday a fire broke out, local police said on Tuesday.
The on-the-site investigation is being carried out in the presence of a Sisak County Court investigating judge, deputy county prosecutors, and members of the Zagreb-based forensic institute "Ivan Vucetic", said Sisak County Police Department spokeswoman Iva Hranitelj.
The fire was reported at 10.50 am on Monday, and it broke out in the unit for technological processes involving hydrocarbon, when the piping started to leak.
Six firemen were injured while trying to put out the fire, one of them seriously, sustaining first and second-degree burns. All injured firemen were treated at the Sisak hospital.
The fire was put out sometime after 2 pm. A 200-metre billow of smoke could be seen above the refinery, and according to eye-witnesses, several explosions could be heard.
More than 130 firefighters and 60 vehicles took part in efforts to contain the blaze.
Some local residents, whose houses are in the vicinity of the KP-6 refinery unit where the fire broke out, were evacuated for a short period of time due to smoke and fears that the fire could spread outside the refinery premises.
The Environmental Protection Ministry said today that based on information available to the local department for environmental inspections, the quantity of air pollutants in Sisak is within allowed limits for the time being.
Complete control of the fire-hit refinery unit is still not possible due to high temperatures, so the state of the plant will be fully inspected once necessary conditions are met, the ministry said.
