A chemical reaction between nitric acid and glycol in a container caused a release of yellowish smoke this Friday around 2 PM at the Pois site of the Cosucra company, located on Route Fluviale in Warcoing. The incident led to the immediate evacuation of the approximately sixty people present on site to a secure assembly area.
To manage the employees, the municipal buses from Pecq and Estaimpuis were mobilized. As a precautionary measure, five individuals were taken for medical examination. In the village, students from the communal school were kept inside their premises as a safety measure, as weather conditions did not direct the cloud towards inhabited areas.
Emergency services quickly established a 200-meter safety perimeter around the affected zone. The Route Fluviale, rue du Rivage, rue Verte, and the RAVeL paths were closed to traffic, and navigation on the Escaut river was suspended. A command post was set up by the Wallonie picarde Rescue Zone to coordinate operations.
The mayor of Pecq, Aurélien Brabant, sought to reassure the public. He highlighted the rapid intervention of emergency services and the absence of any detected risk outside the industrial site. Regular analyses conducted by firefighters concluded there was no danger to the environment, explaining why the Be-Alert system was not activated.
The safety perimeter remains in place pending final technical checks. Analyses carried out during the intervention revealed no danger to residents or the environment, allowing authorities to confirm the situation is under control.
