(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...

[BykrBayb]

This is not peace time Europe.

[null and void]

A resident living near the storage told BBC earlier that he had heard an aircraft fly low in the sky right before the blast, but police later found no indication of aircraft near the explosion site.

Given the melting point of 'aluminium' I seriously doubt the po-lice would find much of anything at this point.

[operation clinton cleanup]

IF - this were not an accident, early Sunday AM when it's still dark, and there were not that many workers on duty, would be an ideal time to sabotage

Perhaps a Muslim or two on the janitorial staff?

[AmeriBrit]

A sleeper planted a long time ago so as to gain everyones trust for when the right moment came.....12/11.

I still have not seen or heard anything yet to convince me this is just an accident.

[null and void]

ObL must be getting pretty good care, and living fairly well, to still be alive with that renal failure that he supposedly has.

Were I a betting man, I'd bet someone in al-Q was found to have a perfect tissue match and was 'volunteered' to donate a kidney or two...

[operation clinton cleanup]

Hi Nully!

Fox just reported a small plane spotted over the site before the explosion... not sure if that is new.

[freeperfromnj]

That sounds like it might be new information. There were witnesses who claim to have heard a low flying plane but the authorities pretty much put that theory to rest during the course of the day. This is the first I've heard that someone actually saw the plane.

[null and void]

Me too. It was posted at #656.

Hi back!

Ready for a rough ride?

[b4its2late]

Hillary brooming?

[operation clinton cleanup]

Thought they said saw... could have been heard. Guess we will have to wait. With all the safety precautions in place, an accident of this magnitude seems unlikely.

[texasbluebell]

Aha! That had never occurred to me. Someone met his 72 virgins a bit ahead of schedule then.

[Tommyjo]

Fox News are still reporting this? When will they start showing the interview with the tanker driver? He was there. No plane involved. Terry Hine saw a vapour cloud, the alarms went off and he evacuated the area. As he ran the first explosion took place.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Between this and the Aussie riots... It has been an interesting Sunday.

[cmsgop]

Those Pics of the Accident are Incredible

[operation clinton cleanup]

Sorry, I have been watching football all day. Just caught a top of the hour report.

[SergeantsLady]

I know that all numbers have a type of "pattern" eventually, but just the "11"s & "3"s sure seem to occur quite a bit for random events... Wonder if there's anyone on this board that has insight into a Radical Islamic Terrorist Numerology??? I haven't a clue. I just know Evil exists and it cannot be overcome by being ignored. However, on the eve of the Elections in Iraq...why give the "bad" guys any headlines...for the moment at least...

Someone else mentioned Madrid bombings on 3/11....

Odd airplane crash 11/12/01 in New York; Richard Reid thwarted on 12/22/01; USS Cole 10/12/00; Odd Egypt Air Flight 990 on 10/31/99; Odd Swiss Air crash 111 on 9/3/98;Odd TWA 800 crash, on 7/17/96 "11" minutes into flight; 3/3/96 Ron Brown 737 Plane Crash in Croatia

[Tommyjo]

And it is not war time either. The UK is not on a war time footing. Even when terrorist bombs were going off in the UK over the past 30 years the nation was not put on a war time footing.

[operation clinton cleanup]

The lesson is, they will strike whenever convenient to them... despite the 3's and 11's.

[AmeriBrit]

Has anyone seen or heard any of the government officials saying anything yet about this disaster?

[operation clinton cleanup]

WTC I took place 2/26/93 and Khobar on 6/25/96.