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| 11/23 |
| 2005/12/11-14 [Politics/Domestic/911, Politics/Foreign/Europe] UID:40959 Activity:nil |
12/11 Welcome to 12/11 (fuel depot explosions)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1538156/posts
\_ BBC, which as you may recall is a real news site, so far
mentions that it's an accident. -John
\_ news.bbc.co.uk says "Police believe it was an accident", but
earlier I was reading other news.bbc.co.uk links that said
they weren't talking about it. I'm not sure what to make of
that. They were scared it might be terrorist related, and now
they've found evidence that suggests it was an accident?
The BP oil refinery accident of Mar 23 2005 in Texas City, TX,
occurred when workers were starting a machine used to increase
gasoline octane ... at 1:23pm on a Wednesday.
This fuel depot accident occurred 6:03am local time on a Sunday
morning ... could have been an automatic process I guess.
\_ Anytime something major goes kaboom in a non-neutral Western
country the initial reaction is always to consider
terrorism as a likely possibility. -John
\_ These bastards don't seem to hold back for neutral
countries.
\_ Yeah, I will give that the longer an incident like this
goes without a credible (video evidence) claim of
responsibility or a repeat incident, it becomes more
reasonable to say it was an accident ...
\_ fyi, for posterity, I compared the BBC diagram of the accident
area (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4517962.stm and found
the location on <DEAD>maps.google.com<DEAD> (http://csua.org/u/e99 |
| 11/23 |
|
| www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1538156/posts Map of the area Updated: 06:41, Sunday December 11, 2005 There has been a large explosion followed by two smaller blasts in the S t Albans area, around 25 miles north of London. Sky Correspondent Sky Meade has said he can see flames about 200ft in th e sky and there appears to be burning fuel. Speaking by telephone from his home, Meade described "burning tongues" o f flames in the sky. The first blast happened at 603am - the other explosions followed about 20 minutes later. Meade, a seasoned war reporter said he can see what looks like "burning aviation fuel". 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 Heme l Hempstead. The blast was felt at Sky Centre - more than 20 miles away in west Londo n It was so powerful it blew out the windows at a hotel in Hemel Hempstead . 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 t he 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 m otorway. com/focus/f-news/1538138/posts SCOTLAND YARD has issued a nationwide alert that Islamist terrorist cells may be plotting a Christmas bombing campaign. The warning was distribut ed to police chiefs nine days ago by the Yards anti-terrorist branch. I t follows a series of operations by police and MI5 aimed at disrupting p ossible attacks by terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda. View Replies To: everyone This from the BBC A series of large explosions have taken place near Hemel Hempstead, in He rtfordshire. The blast is thought to have happened at about 0600 GMT, in the vicinity of the Bunsfield Oil depot, close to the junction 8 of the M1 motorway. Residents in the area, which is 10 miles from Luton Airport, reported hea ring a "loud boom". View Replies To: msnimje Well, flames are near the M1, there is plumes of thick black smoke, flame s are extremely high according to eyewitnesses, damage is over a vast ar ea, with broken windows at the Ramada Hotel, Nr Hemel Hempstead. View Replies To: everyone I was awoken by my mum telling me about this. People are reporting that t hey heard this in West London and as far as Maidenhead, Surrey, which is at least 40 miles away. View Replies To: All LONDON (Reuters) - A large explosion was reported north of London by witn esses ringing into British media early on Sunday. One, identified only as Heather, said she had hear a loud blast near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead and could see sheets of flame soaring i nto the sky. "There is a fuel depot nearby," she told BBC Television. Police were not immediately available for comment but another eye witness also said he thought there had been an explosion at the fuel depot alth ough Luton airport is relatively nearby. View Replies To: Big Bad Bob Well, a downed airplane would sure make a larger impact than a couple of RPGs. Any refineries in this area, or just the storage tan ks themselves? View Replies To: blogblogginaway What exactly do they mean by "fuel depot"? Is this a British term for a g as station, a propane storage/distribution station, or is this one of th e places with the very large storage cylinders, like a Unocal oil storag e field? stm Last Updated: Sunday, 11 December 2005, 06:47 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version Large explosions near fuel depot A series of large explosions have taken place near Hemel Hempstead, in He rtfordshire. The first blast is thought to have happened at about 0600 GMT, near the B unsfield oil depot, close to the junction 8 of the M1 motorway. Residents in the area, which is 10 miles from Luton Airport, reported hea ring a "loud boom" and flames followed by a smaller explosions. One eye witness told BBC News: "There are lots of houses damaged." last Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. |
| news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4517962.stm In pictures The man in charge of investigating the massive fires at a Hertfordshire o il depot on Sunday says the flames may have destroyed all clues to the c ause. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has visited the scene of the blasts w hich injured 43 people, two seriously. The fire chief described the incident at the Buncefield fuel depot near H emel Hempstead, after 0600 GMT, as possibly the largest in peacetime Eur ope. The M1 finally reopened around 2200 GMT after being closed for 12 hours. Hertfordshire's Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher said: "The damage a fire o f this intensity will cause may, or may not, leave clues for the fire in vestigation team." Junction 8 of the motorway, aswell as some slip roads, however, remain cl osed. The Highways Agency said it would review the situation on Monday m orning. The fire, which police believe was an accident, could burn for another da y About 2,000 people living near the site have been evacuated, while police have advised others to keep their windows and doors closed because of f umes. Amateur footage By nightfall a police cordon remained around the site. Thick clouds of smoke are continuing to spread to the south-east and sout h-west of the site. One person admitted to Watford General Hospital in intensive care with re spiratory problems has now been stabilised. Another person is in Hemel H empstead Hospital being kept under observation. The other 41 people were treated for minor injuries and discharged. Witnesses said another two explosions followed the first at 0626 GMT and 0627 GMT at the site near junction 8 A security worker at the depot, Troy Woodland, described what happened. "I sat down and all of a sudden there was a huge orange light and a massi ve explosion which blew the doors through and knocked me off my chair, a nd the ceiling fell in," he told the BBC. Further explosions In total, 20 petrol tanks were involved, each said to hold three million gallons of fuel. In pictures A police investigation into the incident has begun, including investigati ons by anti-terrorist police. But Chief Con Whiteley said there was "nothing to suggest anything other than an accident". On his visit to the site Mr Prescott praised the response and offered gov ernment help but was told the emergency services were able to cope. Hertfordshire's Chief Fire Officer Roy Wilsher said: "This is possibly th e largest incident of its kind in peacetime Europe." Fire chiefs are consulting oil industry experts about using millions of l itres of foam to quell the blaze. But Mr Wilsher said they needed to know they had enough foam before they began. The BBC's Gavin Hewitt said about 100 firefighters were waiting to attack the blaze. Meanwhile samples of smoke are being taken to determine the long term eff ects of exposure, if any, according to Dr Jane Halpin, director of Hertf ordshire Public Health. Fire continues to rage The blast was heard as far away as Holland She said: "However, what I would restate is that those people who are mos t at risk are those people who have inhaled the smoke." Tanker driver Paul Turner said he ran for his life after the explosion li fted him off his feet. "I just saw this great big ball of fire come up from behind the building. "Then there was the loudest explosion I have ever heard in my life. I got up, turned around and ran to my car and sped out of there as fast as I could." Many houses have been damaged, with some reporting feeling effects from t he explosion as far away as Oxfordshire - while it was heard in a number of counties and even France and the Netherlands. School closures Eye witnesses reported buckled front doors, cracked walls and blown-out w indows. Of the 2,000 people evacuated 290 people have gone to a leisure centre wh ile 50 others have been offered bed and breakfast accommodation. Read more of your comments The M10 motorway is closed in both directions between junction 1 and junc tion 7 as well as some arterial roads in Hemel Hempstead. Motorists have been told not to go "anywhere near the M1 from the M25 upw ards". Hertfordshire police said about 70 schools in the Hemel Hempstead and St Albans areas would also be closed on Monday. At Heathrow airport some flights were forced to delay landing because of smoke, but Luton airport was operating as usual. The Buncefield depot is a major distribution terminal operated by Total a nd part-owned by Texaco, storing oil, petrol as well as kerosene which s upplies airports across the region, including Heathrow and Luton. The country's fifth largest fuel distribution depot, it is also used by B P, Shell and British Pipeline. Police said there was no indication the explosion would cause fuel shorta ges and warned against panic-buying. A spokesman for Total said: "We are doing everything we can to support th e emergency services and to bring the situation under control." A spokesman for the Department for Trade and Industry said it was too ear ly to say what the effect would be on fuel supply but oil companies were getting oil from other parts of the south east and across the UK. A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said it would be investig ating the incident. Concerned relatives can call a police casualty bureau on 0800 096 0095, o r from abroad on 0207 1580125. |
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