A factory was almost destroyed when 30 bottles of fuming nitric acids exploded at the premises at Desa Perindustrian Kulai, Kulaijaya early yesterday.

Kulai Fire and Rescue operations commander, senior officer II Mohd Zin Yunus, said 10 personnel rushed to the scene upon receiving a report on the incident at around 8am.

“The acids in the bottles had spilled and the reaction is believed to have caused the explosion, which flung the shards of glass as far as 30 metres away,” he said when contacted in Johor Baru yesterday.

There were no casualties as the factory had not started operating for the day.

According to him, the Johor Baru Fire and Rescue Department’s hazardous materials unit that was deployed to the scene, managed to clear away the chemicals and neutralise the acids four hours later.

Initial investigations revealed the factory had been illegally used as a laboratory to store the chemicals. The estimated loss has not been ascertained.

- Bernama