A fire and subsequent explosion at the Lindsey oil refinery in north Lincolnshire has killed one worker and injured two others.

The fire broke out at a crude oil distillation unit on the North Killingholme site shortly before midday on Tuesday and was followed by what is described as a small explosion. Around 50 firefighters from Humberside Fire and Rescue Service assisted the refinery’s emergency response team in containing the fire in a 20m x 20m area. The blaze was finally extinguished more than nine hours later.

A joint police, Health & Safety Executive and Environment Agency investigation is underway.

A statement from Total, the operators of the refinery said: "Total Lindsey Oil Refinery can confirm that following yesterday’s fire, there is a clean-up operation taking place of the affected area. Our foremost priority has been to ensure that the areas of the refinery unaffected by the incident are safe for our workforce to continue to work. All affected process units at the refinery remain shut down and safely isolated.

“As a precautionary measure, we communicated to our workforce this morning that a full inspection was underway of potentially affected areas. This exercise remains ongoing but all results so far show no risks to the safety and health of our workforce. This is in line with the ongoing investigation and the rest of the refinery continues to operate normally.”

Trade union Unite’s national officer for construction, Tom Hardacre, has called for an independent inquiry into the death of the employee. “Our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to our member’s family at this tragic time,” he said. “Unite puts the highest premium on health and safety in the workplace and we are calling for an immediate, independent and comprehensive inquiry into what happened at Lindsey.”