Exhibition marks 50th anniversary of Flixborough blast

72 people were on site at the time of the explosion

An exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of one of Britain’s worst peacetime explosions has opened in Scunthorpe.

Twenty-eight workers died and 36 were injured when a massive vapour cloud exploded at the Nypro chemical plant, near Flixborough, in 1974.

About 100 people answered North Lincolnshire Museum's appeal for contributions to the exhibition.

Items on show include firemen’s tunics, a clock from the Nypro factory, ID badges and debris from the explosion.

The plant produced caprolactam, a chemical used in the manufacture of nylon

Written and audio recordings of people’s memories also feature in the display, which runs from 18 May to 3 November.

The museum said it hoped the exhibition would tell the story of what happened on the day of the blast and the impact it had on people living in the area.

Eveline van Breemen, North Lincolnshire Museum’s collection assistant said: “It is very emotional. We’ve had some stories that when I read them it’s a bit of a struggle to think how people would have felt back then.”

The blast occurred at about 16:53 BST on Saturday 1 June, and was heard as far away as Grimsby and Doncaster.

A report into the blast found the cause was a result of the failure of a temporary pipe.

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