BUCHAREST (AFP) – Investigations are under way a day after an explosion killed one person and seriously injured four at a chemical plant in southern Romania, official sources said on Wednesday. Prosecutors, labor inspectors and chemical company Oltchim, which owns the plant in Ramnicu Valcea, have each launched an independent investigation into the cause of Tuesday’s blast. According to preliminary information, the explosion was caused by human error, said Anuta Handolescu, the prefect of Valcea county, adding however that “at no point was there a risk of chemical pollution” in the area. A 41-year-old worker died Tuesday afternoon as she was being flown by helicopter to an emergency hospital in Bucharest. Four others who had been injured in the blast, which occurred during a lunch break, were still in the hospital Wednesday, Handolescu said. Three other workers who had been hospitalized suffered no injuries, she added.

CLU (AP) – A Romanian Orthodox Church leader on Wednesday criticized television stations for manipulating viewers and “poisoning the souls of Romanians” with violent programs. “We are becoming a savage and uncouth people,” Metropolitan Bartolomeu Anania told a gathering of more than 100,000 pilgrims at the Nicula Monastery in northwest Romania. Anania, who is one of the possible successors to Patriarch Teoctist, who died last month, contended that violence on television was harming people’s personalities. “It’s a diabolical technique which causes people to not be able to discern good from evil,” the 86-year-old Anania claimed. “It is a slow crime that destroys the conscience and personality.” He said, however, that he watches television and owns a computer. He added that he was not “against modernity” or television itself, though he disapproved of the way it was used.

A charter flight to Turkey carrying 158 tourists was canceled before takeoff at Romania’s Timisoara Airport because of smoke in the cabin, officials said yesterday. One person was injured. Passengers were evacuated using slides, and one woman injured her ankle during the procedure, airport spokeswoman Alina Negrea told news television Realitatea TV. The Atlasjet charter flight was bound for Antalya, a popular holiday destination for Romanians. (AP)