TWO warehouses containing rubber and cocoa at Amsterdam Westport were engulfed in flame with the cocoa warehouse blaze being rapidly extinguished but rubber fire proved to be harder to put out, reported London's International Freighting Weekly.

    Witnesses have heard violent explosions at the area and have reported billowing clouds of smoke coming from the port. "There is an enormous amount of smoke and that means toxic substances will always be released. The question is, how high the concentrations are," said a port spokeswoman.

    Diergaarde Chemical Storage, which owns the warehouses and specialises in dangerous goods, said the fire did not reach the area where chemicals are stored. Company director Keesjan Hendriks has estimated that 1,000 tonnes of rubber were destroyed.

    The cause has not yet been established.

(Source:http://www.schednet.com)