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Explosions injure dozens, fray nerves

The blasts at a major fuel depot in Britain appear to be accidental.

HEMEL HEMPSTEAD, England - Explosions ripped through a major fuel depot north of London on Sunday, injuring dozens of people, blowing doors off nearby homes and sending fireballs and massive clouds of black smoke into the sky.

Police said the blasts appeared to be accidental, though they occurred just four days after an al-Qaida videotape appeared on the Internet calling for attacks on facilities carrying oil "stolen" from Muslims in the Middle East.

One official described it as "possibly the largest incident of this kind in peacetime Europe."

Nerves in Britain, still frayed after four suicide bombers in London killed 52 others and themselves in July, were rattled by televised images of fresh destruction.

Some residents of the area reported hearing a low-flying plane before the explosions, which began at 6:03 a.m.

An investigation will include antiterrorist police, the BBC reported.

Officials said the fires, though contained, may continue to burn for another day or so. Weather forecasters predicted that rain expected today should wash pollutants out of the air.

Residents said shock waves destroyed indoor light bulbs and cracked walls and ceilings.

"It was like a sonic boom," said Danny Deacon, 25, who evacuated his wife and two young children on police orders.

"Around 6 a.m., as we were sleeping, there was a mighty explosion - a thunderclap that woke me up," said Neil Spencer, 42, who lives less than a mile from the Buncefield terminal. "It was fireball after fireball - truly amazing."

The blast destroyed the front door of photographer Haris Luther's house.

"I thought the house had been hit by lightning," Luther, 57, said. "It sounded like an earthquake."

Paul Turner, the driver of a tanker truck, told the BBC the explosion lifted him off his feet.

"I just saw this great big ball of fire come up from behind the building," he said. "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."

The blast was loud enough to wake people in London. The BBC reported, based at least in part on a text message sent in by a viewer, that the initial explosion could be heard in the Netherlands. But many people in the area of England south of London heard nothing.

Most of the 43 people injured were treated at nearby hospitals and released after suffering cuts and bruises from shattering windows in Hertfordshire county, about 25 miles north of London.

At least two men were hospitalized, including a plant worker in serious condition, said Howard Bortkett-Jones, medical director of the two local hospitals.

Noxious fumes from the fire, which left some people coughing, also affected the large number of police who sealed off the area and evacuated nearly 300 people to a bowling alley being used as a temporary shelter. About 25 policemen complained of problems such as chest tightness and shortness of breath, Bortkett-Jones said.

There were several blasts at Buncefield terminal, which stores 4-million gallons of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and aviation fuel, and officials warned that more could occur since it will take days to extinguish the inferno.

Panic buying of gasoline caused long lines at some local stations, but gas companies said shortages were unlikely.

The Environment Agency said any leaking kerosene, oil or gasoline could damage rivers or streams.

On Wednesday, a videotape by al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri called for attacks against gulf oil facilities.

The cause of Sunday's disaster was not immediately known, said Total SA, the French oil company that operates Buncefield in a joint venture with Texaco. The British subsidiary, Total UK, said in a statement it was in contact with police and security forces.

Buncefield is the fifth-largest of some 50 major oil storage facilities in Britain. The Total/Texaco reserves there account for about 5 percent of the country's oil supply.

Total said 400 tankers a day were loaded at the site.

BP also has a storage facility at the site, which was not damaged.

Firefighters planned to use foam to stop the blaze spreading across the depot and adjacent industrial park. The 20 blazing tanks were being allowed to burn themselves out.

The dense pall of smoke rose 10,000 feet over Hemel Hempstead, a plume so vast it appeared in satellite images.

Smoke also drifted at high elevations over London, said Eddy Carroll, a forecaster at Britain's national weather forecasting office.

A 15-mile stretch of the main north-south M1 highway was shut after the blast, causing severe traffic delays. Nearby Luton Airport remained open.

Britain's deadliest oil-related disaster was the July 6, 1988, explosion and fire on the North Sea oil platform Piper Alpha, off the Scottish coast, that killed 167 workers.

--Information from Knight Ridder News Service and Cox News Service was used in this report.

[Last modified December 12, 2005, 01:11:08]