Large Explosion in St. Albans, England.

Witnesses have reported a very loud "Roar overhead" followed by a huge explosion at approximately 6:00 AM this morning. The Sky News reports have a reporter in the area who was awoken by the noise, and he is now describing huge orange flames coming from an area near a Fuel plant, towards Junction 8 on the M-1 and Hemel Hempstead. I'm in milton Keynes and I felt the rumbling from here! (although i was already awake)

This is breaking news, and there are no links available yet, or i would have posted this on ATSNN.



[edit on 013131p://13121 by MERC]

Thanks MERC,

Skynews has a link up now.

www.sky.com...

BBC has a link now:

news.bbc.co.uk...

Sounds intense....

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.

I will have to read into it again in the morning.

Any local tv news stations reporting anything yet?

BBC says many houses damaged.

Rueters is picking it up now. Says there is an airport closeby.

Hope it's not too bad.



[edit on 12/11/05 by makeitso]

Its best to watch sky news theyve been on the ball right from the off.
However i suppose the BBc where the first to report it as a reporter outside the foreign office in london reported hearing the explosion prior to giving his report about something all together different.

The story is a bit confusing...

A series of massive explosions were reported north of London by witnesses ringing into British media early on Sunday.

One, identified only as Heather, said she heard a loud blast near the commuter town of Hemel Hempstead and could see sheets of flame soaring into the sky.

"There is a fuel depot nearby," she told BBC Television. "There are lots of houses damaged."

Police were not immediately available for comment but another eye witness also said he thought there had been an explosion at the fuel depot.

Sky News reported that the scene of the first explosion was the Bunsfield oil terminal in Leverstock Green, near Hemel Hempstead.

A Reuters witness said the blast was heard shortly after 0600 GMT in northwest London, 40 km (25 miles) away.

Another says:

A large explosion was reported north of London by witnesses 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 into the sky.

"There is a fuel depot nearby," she told BBC Television. "There are lots of houses damaged."

Police were not immediately available for comment but another eye witness also said he thought there had been an explosion at the fuel depot although Luton airport is relatively nearby.

FOX News had an alert and made it sound like it was just an accident at a fuel depot.

Fox News just ran a 30 second video on it. Not much info, just a quick spot.

Looks like a huge fire.



Skynews
The blast appears to be centered around the Bunsfield fuel depot near junction 8 of the M1. It was so powerful it was felt more than 20 miles away.Witnesses have said that buildings have been brought down and the roofs of houses were lifted by the force.


BBC
Several other neighbours said they did see a plane go into the depot.



[edit on 12/11/05 by makeitso]

Originally posted by djohnsto77
FOX News had an alert and made it sound like it was just an accident at a fuel depot.

It may well have been just that, djohnsto77, but there are some strange reports of something overhead.

To put the size of this explosion into perpective.

reports of windows shaking in herne bay,ipswich,milton keynes,aylesbury (me ) welyn GC.

Houses in the vacinity of the explosion alledgely have had roofs,walls even whole faces lost.

The depot apparently supplies avaition fuel to heathrow. I've heard reports that they have a pipeline to it however that hasn't been confirmed.

Originally posted by MERC

Originally posted by djohnsto77
FOX News had an alert and made it sound like it was just an accident at a fuel depot.

It may well have been just that, djohnsto77, but there are some strange reports of something overhead.

The reports of rumblings prior to the explosion i personally believe was the escaping of the fuel from a pipe. Surprisingly this noise is somewhat like an aircraft i only know this as i've seen and heard a fuel depot go up before although on a much smaller scale and it can travel a fair distance. Worse case is that it was an airplane as that depot is actually on the heathrow landing route.

Originally posted by MERC
It may well have been just that, djohnsto77, but there are some strange reports of something overhead.

Yeah, I know...it would be strange if a plane crashed directly into a refinery/depot/whatever...I would think that would have to be deliberate.

I read that someone heard a roar overhead and then an explosion, the first thing that came to mind was a plane crash. With the airport nearby, that seems to be the likely answer, but you never know. Crazy stuff happens in this world.

[edit on 12/11/2005 by ludaChris]

[edit on 11-12-2005 by sanctum]

SKY News has got a video feed of the smoke, which is so thick and dense it makes half the sky look like the black of night.

I think if it were a plane airports would be reporting a down plane

Someone emailed Sky and said they heard a plane overhead that did not sound right.

Skynews reader emails

I am in Carshalton Surrey, and heard a plane flying overhead that did not sound right. This was shortly before the explosion, which we heard.

All sorts of sources covering this now.

Check out google news

This thread beat you by a couple minutes:

www.abovetopsecret.com...