Chemical refinery alarms set off

Flares set off at the plant appeared to residents to be a fire

A power failure at one of Europe's largest chemical plants caused flares and alarms to go off.

The sky was lit up over the Esso factory at Fawley in Hampshire on Wednesday night.

Esso said there was a power outage at about 2100 BST and what people thought were flames were actually flares.

"We apologise for any concern that the flaring and the alarms have caused within the local community," the company said.

The Fawley plant is operated by Esso Petroleum Company Limited and ExxonMobil Chemical Limited.

The companies said it was one of the largest and most complex oil refining and petrochemical manufacturing sites in Europe, producing more than a million tonnes of chemical products every year.