(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...

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

CNN US is back on it.

[I_Love_My_Husband]

BBC says there are casualties.

[Sally'sConcerns]

live video on the web from bbc

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/default.stm#

[scott7278]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Democratshavenobrains]

Whether or not it was an accident, one thing is for sure.

It's all Bush's fault.

[syriacus]

EuroNews says the airport is operating normally. Unconfirmed 8 dead. Someone reported smell of gas before explosion.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Thank you! My computer was in the shop for nearly THREE WEEKLS!

Glad to have you back! :)

[woofie]

We should have signed the Kyoto accord

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

CNN has went back to commercials.

[Cindy]

Ok.

[NoCmpromiz]

laterping

[scott7278]

AAAAARRGH!

[KneelBeforeZod]

video with stills http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0,,30100-blast_111205_0700,00.html

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Thanks for the link. Reports are that the fire is spreading. I see no evidence of white smoke, usually indicating direct fire fighting efforts.

[papertyger]

Given the scale of the Texas City Disaster of 1947, it would have made Osama proud to have been able to claim credit. Certainly it put Tim McVeigh's gadget to shame. But guess what? It was an accident!

was it on the 11th?

[Canard]

Fox News and Sky share ownership, so presumably Fox can take anything from Sky's coverage if they need to. Sky News often 'borrows' reports from Fox correspondents and has even gone to Fox News coverage on occasions for major incidents where they haven't had their own reporters in place.

[msnimje]

Talking head on BBC just called it an "Extraordinary Boom."

[I_Love_My_Husband]

(hi)

I don't believe it's an accident like they see. It's a case of "nothing to see here, move along". They need to prove that to me it really WAS an accident.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

...set off the seismographs at Rice University in Houston, 20 miles away.

Seismographs react hundreds of miles away, and are a lot more sensitive than the human ear at 40 miles.

Forty miles for a blast to be audible is amazing.

[little jeremiah]

Up the thread there was mention of someone being interviewed noting the smell of gas before the explosion. That could be accident or on purpose, doesn't say much either way. How hard would it be for someone to open some valves to create mayhem?