Survivors and relatives gathered at Uithoorn cemetery today to commemorate the Cindu disaster. Exactly thirty years ago, a huge explosion took place in a chemical factory on the Amstel. Three firefighters were killed. A memorial stone was unveiled for them.
The memorial plaque hung for years on the site in Uithoorn where the disaster happened, but the factory has been gone since 2014. From today, relatives of Cor de Bruin, Bert Gijzen and Eric de Meijer can go to a new place to commemorate their loved ones.
“That is very important to me,” says Carla de Meijer, Eric’s wife. “I really missed having a place to go. We’re really thankful it came here.” July 8, 1992 is ‘like yesterday’ for Carla. “He was missing and then my world came crashing down,” she tells of that terrible day. “The next morning we received word that he had passed away.”
Commemoration Cindu disaster – NH Nieuws
Just before that fatal explosion, Eric is working with his colleagues to put out a fire on the property. When the place suddenly explodes, the firefighters are swallowed by a conflagration. Jan van Kooten (85) can still recall that moment well. He did survive the disaster.
“I got a load of resin on me and was blown away,” he describes. “Burning, I then walked to the Amstel and jumped in with a colleague. He later took me out and took me to cool down further.”
Jan is badly burned and is kept asleep in the hospital for five weeks. Only after 55 days can the doctor tell his family that he is going to make it. When the man wakes up, he no longer recognizes himself. “I had no mouth, my nose was gone and so were my eyebrows.”
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On the early morning of July 8, 1992, not only outside, but also in one of Nevcin’s technical rooms – part of and located on the Cindu site – the temperature is rising rapidly. The company fire brigade is sent for it, but during the investigation a so-called resin polymerization boiler explodes, a boiler in which coal tar is converted into synthetic resin.
Three firefighters are killed in the explosion: Cor de Bruin, Bert Gijzen and Eric de Meijer. Two of them were not recovered from the smoldering rubble on the property until two days later. Dozens of people were also injured, some of whom jump burning into the Amstel to extinguish the flames.
The massive fire from the first explosion provoked a series of new explosions. These in turn created flames tens of meters high and thick, black clouds of smoke that could be seen and smelled for miles around.
Residents within a 200-meter radius of the site were evacuated. In the rest of Uithoorn, but also in Amstelveen, Amsterdam-Zuidoost and Diemen, residents were urgently advised to stay indoors and to close windows and doors.
The man has to rehabilitate for three years, his face is restored, but the scars left by the disaster are always visible with him. Jan was never able to work again. Still, he didn’t give up. “You just have to keep going,” he says combatively. But he didn’t have to do it alone, the man admits. “I have a strong wife at home and lovely children.”
Jan is visiting the new monument today with his wife and son. The family of his comrade Bert Gijzen is also present. Bert stood next to Jan during the explosion, but did not survive the disaster. His wife Corrie Gijzen thinks it is special to be here with her grandchildren now. “Of course they have not experienced it. They only know what we tell them,” says Corrie. A smile appears on her face. “We often talk about Grandpa and his crazy pranks.”