Shell director apologizes for problems at Rotterdam refinery

Jos van Winsen, director of the Shell refinery in Pernis, Rotterdam, offered his apologies on Tuesday for two major incidents at the refinery over the past days. "We are extremely sorry, this is not what we are", Van Winsen said to RTV Rijnmond.

Emergency services had to respond to the refinery twice in less than 48 hours - for a fire early on Sunday morning and after a hydrofluoric acid leak was discovered on Monday night. The leak occurred while the installations were being flushed, which was necessary after the fire.

According to Van Winsen, the leak has no consequences for the refinery. He promised to investigate how it happened. "We inspect all pipes regularly. Such a hole should not have happened and we will investigate how it did", he said to the broadcaster.