Explosions rock UK oil depot
From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in London
December 12, 2005
"MASSIVE" explosions struck an oil depot near one of London's large airports yesterday, filling the sky with orange flames and shattering windows and doors at nearby homes, police and witnesses said.
Police said there had been two or three explosions at the Buncefield oil deport in Hertfordshire, northwest of London, about 20km from Luton airport, just before 7pm (AEDT). The blast was so powerful that it was heard as far as west and south London.
"We woke up around five to six and there was an absolutely massive loud bang," Dave Franklin, who lives about a kilometre from the depot, said.
"It actually broke two windows in the flat above us... There are just flames everywhere. Orange flames. The whole sky has just turned orange and black."
Other local residents said they could smell a powerful scent of fuel, and that their first thought was that an aircraft might have crashed.
"I thought we'd been hit by a thunderbolt," another witness said.
Luton airport is used for budget and charter flights to destinations in Britain and abroad. The area is also close to the M1 motorway which links London to the north of England, a section of which was immediately closed.
A reporter for Sky News television said he heard a "low, loud rumbling" near Saint Albans, the biggest town in the immediate area, followed by a "massive" explosion.
Orange flames and smoke could then be seen in the sky up to a great height, just east of the town.
Other witnesses reported hearing up to four separate blasts over the course of 30 minutes.
Another witness said the force of one blast blew in windows at a hotel near Saint Albans, which is around 40km north of the British capital, with some injuries reported.
Four people were seriously injured and 32 others were lightly hurt, a senior police officer said.
Police believed there are about 36 casualties at the Buncefield oil terminal, north-west of London, but "the vast majority of these are not serious injuries", Hertfordshire Police Chief Constable Frank Whiteley said.
Mr Whiteley underlined previous police reports that the explosions appeared to be the result of an accident, but added police were "keeping an open mind".
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