(Updated) BREAKING NEWS: Massive Series of Explosions rock Southern England

Sky News UK ^ | December 11, 2005

[Big Bad Bob]

Reports of up to Four Explosions at a fuel depot Near Hemel Hempstead, North West of London, according to Sky

__________________

Update:

Explosion Near London


The first picture, taken by a Sky News viewer

Map of the area

Updated: 06:41, Sunday December 11, 2005

There has been a large explosion followed by two smaller blasts in the St Albans area, around 25 miles north of London.

Sky Correspondent Sky Meade has said he can see flames about 200ft in the sky and there appears to be burning fuel.

Speaking by telephone from his home, Meade described "burning tongues" of flames in the sky.

The first blast happened at 6.03am - the other explosions followed about 20 minutes later.

Meade, a seasoned war reporter said he can see what looks like "burning aviation fuel".

"This fire is extremely intense. It is a bright orange glow on the horizon," he said.

Witnesses have told Sky News they heard the blast near Junction 8 of the M1. It is thought to be centred around Bunsfield fuel depot, near Hemel Hempstead.

The blast was felt at Sky Centre - more than 20 miles away in west London.

It was so powerful it blew out the windows at a hotel in Hemel Hempstead. There are reports of injuries there.

And one witness has told how the explosion shook his mother's house and lifted the roof.

Witnesses have told Sky News that emergency services are converging on the area.

Sky News producer Anwar Tambe heard the blast from his home in Luton and is currently stuck in traffic on the M1.

He said blasts are "going off regularly" and debris has blown onto the motorway.

More follows...

[Canard]

Hertfordshire Police statement says that they do not believe the causes of this incident to be sinister, say Sky News.

[mfccinsd]

Oh I know...I wasn't saying it happened, just showing the person who asked the "plane" comments that had been made...but I'm not sure all were made from the same witness?....In any case, I'm not trying to develop any myths, just was trying to answer a poster...and those were just some of the reports.

I'm sure it'll be quite awhile longer, with a lot of theories, rumors, etc. before we even get a fraction of what's going (or went) on! :-S

[KittyKares]

It says it's for international users and asks if you want to use windows media player or real player.

[Diddle E. Squat]

You can find the location here:

http://maps.google.com/

Just enter "Hemel Hempstead, England" and then look for the north/south blue line labeled "M1" where the east-west orange road A414 ends at it, east of the town. The aerial photos are crappy, but it appears to be in the "Hemel Hempstead Industrial Estate" northwest of that intersection.

[Doofer]

Sky updated the website at :38, and has video of flames in the sky.....

Just took a look and it's one heck of a fire.......

[FairOpinion]

They always say that.

At this point, nobody really KNOWS, whether it was an accident or deliberate.

But the fact that it happened shortly after the Scotland Yard issued a nationwide alert about Al Qaeda attacks, makes it quite reasonable to include the possibility of terrorism as one of the possible causes.

[FreedomCalls]

List of British streaming news/talk radio stations here:

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/listen_newstalk.htm

And pop music stations here (some of which are running continuous updates):

http://www.radio-now.co.uk/listen_pop.htm

[Cindy]

UPDATE...

http://www.sky.com/skynews/home

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1205711,00.html

"Blast: Reports Of Deaths"
Updated: 07:47, Sunday December 11, 2005

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "There are unconfirmed reports that eight people have been killed in a large explosion, followed by several smaller blasts, near Hemel Hempstead, around 25 miles north of London.

Sky Correspondent Geoff Meade has said he can see flames about 200ft in the sky and there appears to be burning fuel.

The blast appears to be centered around the Buncefield fuel depot near junction 8 of the M1. It was so powerful it was felt more than 20 miles away."

[papertyger]

Hertfordshire Police statement says that they do not believe the causes of this incident to be sinister, say Sky News.

How the hell would they know? They got the devil doing "on the scene" coverage?

[FairOpinion]

UPDATE:


Blast: Reports of Deaths

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1205711,00.html

[tcrlaf]

BBC is now up LIVE... Flames still burning, skys filled with smoke, now talking about effects on fuel availability in South England..

[Canard]

That's true. However various things are making me more sure that an aircraft wasn't involved.

*incident was 2 hours ago, normally if a plane goes down there is confirmation from air traffic control by this time.

*Air traffic is still going in and out of Luton - if this was a terrorist attack with a plane, would have grounded all the others.

*Sky News have interviewed various witnesses who were quite close to the actual explosion - none of them have mentioned any possibility of a plane. The rumours have come from people miles away, some of whom only report 'a noise that sounded like a plane going overhead' - could well be that this was the beginning of the explosion.

[furquhart]

It seems difficult to believe that, given the scale of this, the cause could be anything other than "sinister."

[tcrlaf]

CNN International FINALLY up, picking up the ITV feed........

[Dolphy]

Thank you...CNN has finally gone live too.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

CNN has it now.

[FairOpinion]

Cindy -- you are always on top of the lastest! :)
I posted my update a few minutes after you did, then I noticed yours.

[Canard]

" How the hell would they know? They got the devil doing "on the scene" coverage?"

Presumably they would be aware by now if a plane had crashed into the depot!

[mfccinsd]

CNN Int'l just started here (just this minute) but it's still on our weird other channel it shows up on...actually they're feeding ITV now...

The flames are unreal.......wow...........will post if they say something useful...the images are very powerful.

"not knowing whether an accident or whether there are links to terrorism"

"unconfirmed reports of a plane overhead shortly before" (which seems obvious since it's very near Luton airport....?)

[BunnySlippers]

cnn doing full coverage now