On the 16 May 1997 an explosion occurred at the Fushun Ethylene Complex, in Fushun, Liaoning province, China. The explosion source was located in the distillation column of the air separation nunit of the complex. The explosion was extremely severe causing the death of four people, injuring four severely and 27 slightly, and causing extensive material damage. A number of possible pollution sources was investigated. The remains of the low pressure column and of the main vaporiser were reassembled. A model was developed to understand ignition of aluminium when polluted by combustible material in liquid oxygen. Laboratory tests were made on ignition of polluted aluminium in LOX. Ethylene dispersion in the atmosphere was also modelled. It can be concluded that the accident resulted from an exceptional pollution peak due to venting of ethylene during a shut down of the ethylene oxide plant, together with a temporarily low liquid level in the main vaporiser of the air separation unit at reduced load. The hydrocarbon pollutant acted as an igniter, the actual fuel was aluminium. Calculations show that a few hundreds grams of ethylene were able to ignite more than 1000 kg of aluminium in liquid oxygnen, multiplying the explosion energy by more than 1000. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.