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| France explosions: Device found near Berre-L'Etang plant | France explosions: Device found near Berre-L'Etang plant |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| An electronic device has been found by investigators near a petrochemical plant in southern France, where two tanks caught fire after explosions on Tuesday, reports say. | An electronic device has been found by investigators near a petrochemical plant in southern France, where two tanks caught fire after explosions on Tuesday, reports say. |
| A malicious act was already suspected by authorities because the two tanks were 500m (1,600ft) apart. | A malicious act was already suspected by authorities because the two tanks were 500m (1,600ft) apart. |
| The fires were visible a long distance from the plant at Berre L'Etang. | The fires were visible a long distance from the plant at Berre L'Etang. |
| Police sources told French media that they were analysing an electronic device that could start a fire. | Police sources told French media that they were analysing an electronic device that could start a fire. |
| Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve was said to have responded to the fires by warning regional officials to step up security at sensitive sites across France. | |
| Anti-terror officials in Paris were keeping a close eye on the investigation, a week after explosives and detonators were stolen from a military site at Miramas, little more than 20km (12 miles) away. | |
| Prosecutors in the nearby town of Aix told local media that suspicious items had been found but they were badly damaged and had been sent for analysis. | |
| Holes in the perimeter fence near one of the tanks were also being investigated. | |
| Officials were keeping an open mind about the fires but were not looking at any link to Islamist militants at this stage, Liberation website reported (in French). | |
| Two tanks were set alight after the explosions at the site run by LyondellBasell, a multinational company with headquarters in the US and the Netherlands. | |
| One was filled with petrol and the other with naphtha, a highly flammable distilled liquid distilled from petroleum. | |
| No-one was hurt and firefighters dealt with the petrol fire quickly but took hours on Tuesday to bring the naphtha tank blaze under control. |