Two workers taken to hospital in Phillips 66 pipeline fire in Louisiana

[February 10, 2017]  (Reuters) - Two workers were taken to a local hospital and another is unaccounted for after an explosion and fire on Thursday at a Phillips 66 pipeline station in a small town in southern Louisiana, parish officials said.

The incident has led to the evacuation of about 60 homes in Paradis, Louisiana, a town of about 1,200 residents west of New Orleans, officials in St. Charles Parish said.

Six workers were at the facility when the explosion occurred. Two were taken to a local hospital with injures and one remained unaccounted for, St. Charles Sheriff Greg Champagne said during a press conference aired on local news outlets.

Three workers had minor or no injuries, Champagne said.

Other workers are now attempting to shut the high pressure line, a spokesman for the parish said.

"It's a very high pressure, high intensity fire," Champagne said. "When you get close to it, it is really singeing."

The source of the product in the pipeline has been shut off, but the fire could burn for hours or at least a day, Champagne said. "It is a loud and scary fire, but it is burning off."

The incident occurred at the Paradis Pipeline Station operated by Phillips 66 about 30 minutes west of New Orleans, a company spokesman said.

"Phillips 66 is in the process of accounting for all employees and contractors who were working at the site at the time," the spokesman said.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru and Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Bill Rigby and Tom Hogue)

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