Title: 20 Missing in London Explosion

Story Filed: Tuesday, February 15, 2000 4:52 PM EST

LONDON (Feb. 15) XINHUA - About 20 people were missing after an explosion wrecked half of a four-story block of flats in north London on Tuesday, the fire brigade said.

At least 60 firefighters were fighting a blaze which started shortly after 8 p.m. (2000 GMT), the Reuters quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

Unconfirmed reports said the explosion was believed to have been caused by a gas leak.

The spokeswoman said no other details were immediately available.

Copyright ) 2000, Xinhua News Agency, all rights reserved.

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Source: Xinhua News Agency Date: 02/15/2000 16:52

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 15, 2000

Answers

A gas leak into the subway tunnels is a sure-fire recipe for an explosive situation (no pun intended). All that had to happen was for one train to come by once the gas reached an explosive concentration. A subway train would certainly provide the spark, and that all she wrote.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 15, 2000.

WW - what you say may be true but is not relevant.

Another demonstration of runaway reporting. In fact there are no dead people, four injured.

It was a plain ordinary gas explosion. The supply pipe to the premises was intact afterwards, has been tested, is leak-free. Investigations continue. The most probable cause is that an appliance within the premises leaked gas to make a roomfull of explosive gas- air mixture. One spark, and BANG! (more accurately, according to a witness, WHOOOOMP!, followed by breaking glass).

It blew out most windows in the vicinity and parts of the front wall of the property in which the explosion occurred, but did not collapse the property. I can remember reports of far worse.

-- Nigel (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), February 16, 2000.