[kellyhound]

Romanian officials said two people were killed and 57 injured after explosions rocked an unlicensed liquified petroleum station in Crevedia late on Saturday.

Most of the injured were firefighters who worked to extinguish the blaze from the first explosion before the second occurred.

According to the head of the Emergency Department, Raed Arafat, among the injured were 39 firefighters, two police officers and two gendarmes.

Nine people have been transferred abroad for treatment.

[nudibranches646]

Flame on!!!!

[rohmell]

BUCHAREST, Aug 27 (Reuters) - One person died and 57 were injured after two explosions at a liquefied petroleum gas station in the Romanian town of Crevedia near the capital Bucharest on Saturday.

After the first explosion, the fire spread to two fuel tanks and a nearby house, leading authorities to evacuate everyone within a radius of 700 meters, while traffic on the main road nearby was blocked, according to the government's emergency response unit (IGSU).

A second explosion occurred at the LPG station on Saturday evening injuring 26 firefighters, Deputy Interior Minister Raed Arafat, who is in charge of the emergency response unit, told reporters.

The fire was contained by Sunday morning, and the prosecutor general has taken over the investigation.

Most of the injured were people from the services who intervened. Eight people were intubated after suffering severe burns, the government said.

"We think four of the patients will more than certainly be transferred tonight to hospitals in Italy and Belgium," Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu told reporters after an emergency meeting with the state agencies involved in handling the crisis.

Arafat said the gas station did not have authorization to operate, hotnews.ro reported.

LPG is widely used in Eastern Europe as fuel as it is significantly cheaper than gasoline or diesel.

[rohmell]

At least two people died and 56 were injured after two blasts at a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) station in Romania.

The injured included 39 firefighters who went to the scene following the first explosion near the capital Bucharest on Saturday evening.

Shortly after, a second blast sent a mushroom cloud billowing into the sky, rocking the forecourt in Crevedia.

Several people are in critical condition with severe burns, authorities said.

The two people who died were a couple, Raed Arafat, the head of Romania's emergency department, told reporters on Sunday.

They sent four people who were injured, including two firefighters, to hospitals abroad and said others would follow.

Two police officers and two gendarmes are among the injured.

Authorities do not yet know what caused the blast. Mr Arafat said the station was no longer in use and "did not have a permit to function", according to quotes reported by the Agence France-Presse news agency.

People within a 700-metre (almost half a mile) radius were initially evacuated from the area, with Mr Arafat warning there was a risk of another explosion.

But by mid-morning, the fires had been contained.

Romania's President Klaus Iohannis described the explosions as a "tragedy" and said he was "profoundly saddened" by what had happened.

"An investigation must quickly be launched to see if rules were broken. I ask the authorities to take urgent measures for the injured so that these tragedies won't happen again," he wrote on Facebook.

[Trucked up]

Something Ukraine deals with every day.

[Hogmann]

That's one hell of an explosion! Since it was an LPG station I bet it was a BLEVE.

A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE, /ˈblɛviː/ BLEV-ee) is an explosion caused by the rupture of a vessel containing a pressurized liquid that has reached a temperature above its boiling point.[1][2] Because the boiling point of a liquid rises with pressure, the contents of the pressurized vessel can remain a liquid as long as the vessel is intact. If the vessel's integrity is compromised, the loss of pressure drops the boiling point, which can cause the liquid to convert to a gas expanding rapidly. If the gas is combustible, as in the case with hydrocarbons and alcohols, further damage can be caused by the ensuing fire.

[icehole]

reminds me of nagasaki