(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...

[eastforker]

I was under the impression that avgas ignited easier and at lower temps than reg gasoline, if not I stand corrected.

[sure_fine]

"...but no third party, a plane or terrorists, was involved"



its amazing, it can take years to say terrorists did it, and just minutes to say they didn't

[meanie monster]

holy cow that looks bad!

[indcons]

Thanks for the pics......looks like a war zone there. Stay safe.

[janetjanet998]

thats is alot of smoke..those "clouds" you see are actually the smoke higher up...BBC showed A SAT shot awhile back..clear skies and a huge smoke plume over southern england

[freeperfromnj]

Explosion At Fuel Depot

Updated: 11:51, Sunday December 11, 2005

SNIP ...The cause of the explosion is not yet known but no third party - a plane or a terrorist - was involved...

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

[English Nationalist]

BBC is reporting that everyone is accounted for and there are no fatalities

[English Nationalist]

The police are great at that, on 7/7 it took them only a few minutes to tell us it was a power fault and not bombs

[vimto]

I understand it is a depot for both types of fuel - aviation should be hit harder than road users, But no severe problems expected - heathrow has 48hrs fuel in reserve and airlines can fill up in other countries. Inconvenient - but nothing more. There has been some panic buying at petrol stations..

[Admin Moderator]

Your post in Response #662 has been removed because it contained photos from Getty Images.

Free Republic has been asked not to allow any images from Getty Images or Corbis to be posted.

[alnitak]

OK, sorry I didn't know that. I presume a link to the BBC website is still OK though:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4518026.stm

[evad]

"Maybe a peaceful disgruntled employee".....

Yeah...who happens to be a muzzie.

[M. Espinola]

That's excellent news there were no fatalities. With the enormous size of the explosions it's a miracle.

If Islamic terrorists were not involved you can bet the jihad killers wish they had.

[IrishRainy]

Greetings, and welcome to Free Republic. My mother was born and raised in Manchester -- but being Irish, she had not a DROP of English blood, or so she said. :)

In addition, I lived outside of London for 5 years as a kid...I was an Air Force brat.

Lots of fond memories!

[Admin Moderator]

"I presume a link to the BBC website is still OK though..."

Text with the original title and correct link from the BBC is also fine.

Updated FR Excerpt and Link Only or Deny Posting List due to Copyright Complaints

[johnny7]

FOXNews just mentioned that there was the sound of a low-flying plane over the facility just before the explosion.

[ken5050]

Just catching up to the story...IIRC..didn't Tom VClancy's "Red Storm Rising" start with an Islamoterrorist attack on a huge Russian fuel depot..

[Canard]

"FOXNews just mentioned that there was the sound of a low-flying plane over the facility just before the explosion."

Lots of people reported hearing what they thought was a plane. However, if you read the reports of witnesses near to the explosion, it was described as a long drawn out explosion which rattled windows many miles away. If you're a few miles from the scene and are awoken at 6am by a load drawn out roar in the sky and your windows rattling, you would probably think you'd heard a plane flying very low overhead, that is likely what these people actually heard. Police have categorically confirmed several hours ago that no plane was involved.

[johnny7]

It sure as hell sounds do-able.