FIRES HIT CHEMICAL PLANTS IN ITALY, GERMANY

Two unrelated chemical factory blazes, one near Italy's Venice and another in northern Germany on Friday, May 15, 2020, have triggered local alerts and injured several people, with Italian officials telling people to stay inside their homes as toxins soared high and smoke billowed.

An explosion at a chemicals plant in Porto Marghera in Venice's lagoon area left two workers seriously injured and residents had to shut down their windows as a huge black cloud billowed from the site, according to the Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA), Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP.)

In Lauenburg in the Germany state of Schleswig-Holstein, firefighters said they had confined a blaze and stopped it from spreading to two tall adjacent structures. The fire, unrelated to the Italian blast, was at a plant run by the firm Worlée, which makes resins and varnishes.

Public broadcaster NDR reported that one person had been injured during the blaze, which prompted evacuations of some 20 adjacent firms. As in Venice, residents were urged to stay behind closed windows.