Fire in AAK’s plant in Aarhus

12/5/2007 2:03 AM EST

One employee, a team leader, was killed when an explosion and fire occurred at AAK’s plant in Aarhus, Denmark yesterday morning. The accident took place in the facility where vegetable oils are processed to be used as components in chocolate and confectionery fats.

– We feel the deepest sympathy and share the grief of our deceased colleague’s family, says Jørgen Balle, Managing Director for AarhusKarlshamn Denmark and President for AAK’s business area Chocolate & Confectionery Fats. – Our thoughts go out to them, and we will do all we can to help at this difficult time.
– Security has top priority in the company, both in relation to the employees and to our surroundings, and this accident will cause us to do a new, thorough review so that we can prevent similar accidents in the future, Jørgen Balle says.


The fire was intense, but was put out during Tuesday morning. An examination carried out together with authorities will show what caused the fire, but because of security issues it will take some days before it is possible to gain an overview of the damage and what caused the accident.
Management foresees a standstill in the facilities that were damaged, but the scope is difficult to assess before the investigations are completed. Other production facilities will resume production during the next few days. Part of the lost production volume will be covered by AAK’s other production sites.