36 injured in UK fuel depot explosions

ABC ^ | December 11, 2005 | Rafael Epstein

[indcons]

Three large explosions have rocked a fuel depot north of London, shooting flames hundreds of metres into the sky.

Thirty-six people have been injured, four of them seriously.

Police say that at this stage they are treating the blasts as an accident.

The three explosions woke up residents dozens of kilometres away from the big fuel depot at Buncefield, near Luton airport north of London.

Houses kilometres away have reported buckled front doors, cracked walls and blown-out windows.

The area near the site has been evacuated, while police have advised residents living nearby to keep their windows and doors closed due to fumes.

The depot is a major distribution terminal storing oil, petrol and kerosene for supplying airports across Britain including Heathrow.

Hertfordshire Police Chief Constable Frank Whitely says hundreds of emergency workers are at the site.

"We're anticipating that there will be further explosions during the morning and we want to reassure the public that that is nothing untoward and is now expected," he said.

"We are appealing to people not to panic buy petrol.

"There is nothing to suggest that there will be a fuel shortage as a result of this incident."

- ABC/Reuters

In other developments: Police have no evidence to suggest that massive explosions at a fuel depot near one of London's airports on Sunday were "caused by anything other than an accident," a police spokeswoman said. (Full Story)

[little jeremiah]

Duh - indcons, PhiKapMom and Liberty - my pinging you is in reference to my comment 14. Paleo wants documentation, it's stuff I read (some on the threads, some linked) when the OK Jihad Joel was current. If any of you have ideas where to find that info, could you tell Paleo? Thanks, if you have time.

[LibertyRocks]

Here are the links, that I have to the articles discussing this topic (Boren, Saudis, etc...). Hope this helps. (o:

George Tenet's Failure is the Legacy of David Boren
Was a Bungled Sting Operation a Factor in the 9/11 Attacks?
1.) Main Article by Michael Phillip Wright, Norman, OK
2.) Update to main article

also this article written in 2001 by Mr. Wright:
Fall 2001: David Boren's Peculiar Relationship to a Pakistani Student Accused of Anthrax Threat

[Eva]

One of the articles that was posted on the explosions said that this was a BP refinery and depot. The article in our local paper has no mention of who owned the depot. Any claification would be appreciated.

[Eva]

Thinking about whether it is Total/Chevron or BP, I am wondering if the depot is managed by BP. BP's MO is to control the movement of both product and crude in their areas of operation, thus controlling price.