BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian materials and recycling group Umicore said a fire that broke out on Wednesday at its Hoboken plant is under control.
"There was a fire at a scrubber installation in Umicore's facility in Hoboken," the company said in a statement, adding that an investigation into its cause is underway.
The fire broke at 7.30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT), according to the statement of the Antwerp fire brigade and was brought under control around 11.45 am.
The 30 employees working at the affected part of the site, which is currently shut, were evacuated and nobody was hurt.
Other departments are operational, Umicore said.
Residents in the immediate vicinity were also evacuated as a precaution but can soon return home, Antwerp fire department said on Twitter.
The plant in northern Belgium obtains precious metals from industrial by-products and items such as old mobile phones, laptops, car catalytic converters.
(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Piotr Lipinski in Gdynia, and Phil Blenkinsop in Brussels; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)