The Toulouse public prosecutor says he is appealing the acquittal of a subsidiary of French oil giant Total SA and a former factory chief in a 2001 chemical plant explosion that killed 31 people.Prosecutor Michel Valet move follows a court ruling Thursday to acquit the former chief of the AZF chemical fertilizer plant and Total subsidiary Grande Paroisse based on the "benefit of doubt."
Valet made the announcement Friday.
The blast tore apart the chemical plant with the force of a 3.4 magnitude earthquake, also injuring 2,000 people. It happened ten days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States, raising fears at the time that the blast had a link with terrorism.
Eight years on, no one has been convicted in the case.
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