Firefighters work as flames rise after an explosion at a LPG station in Crevedia, near Bucharest, Romania, Photo Credit, Reuters
Prosecutors opened an inquiry on Sunday into two explosions at an unlicensed liquefied petroleum gas filling station that left two people dead and 56 people injured in north of Romania’s capital Bucharest at the weekend.
Most of the injured were firefighters who rushed to the station in the Crevedia commune to extinguish the blaze from the first explosion before the second occurred late Saturday.
“The fire started while gas was transferred from one tanker to another. A source of fire appeared under one of the tankers,” general prosecutor Alex Florenta told a press conference on Sunday.
“Speculations include that a cigarette was carelessly thrown,” he added.
Emergency department head, Raed Arafat, told journalists that the two people who died were a couple. The man suffered a heart attack, while the woman died after sustaining severe burns, he added.
“Among the injured were 39 firefighters, two police officers and two gendarmes,” Mr Arafat said.
Romania has requested assistance through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to treat 18 burn patients, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Writing by Julian Osamoto; Editing by Daniel Adejo and Tony Okerafor