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09/05/2006
Storage tank 'overflowed' at Buncefield
A report into the Buncefield oil depot explosion has found that a storage tank at the depot was overflowing for more than 40 minutes before the explosion.
Petrol flowed into the tank at the Hertfordshire depot for 11 hours prior to the explosion on the morning of December 11 last year, the report stated.
The report said that the tank would have been full by 5:20 am, just 41 minutes before a series of explosions rocked the depot.
The report, which was the third progress report from the investigation by the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, suggested that a faulty fuel gauge may have been partly to blame for the overflow of fuel, as well as human error.
The report said that the overflow of petrol caused a large vapour cloud to form over the Buncefield site, which was then ignited, possibly by a spark in a pump-house or a generator close to the site.
No blame has been attributed for the explosions, which were the largest to occur in peacetime Europe, in order to avoid prejudicing any future legal action, the report said.
No-one was killed in the explosion, but 43 people were injured and a number of properties damaged.
(KMcA)
Petrol flowed into the tank at the Hertfordshire depot for 11 hours prior to the explosion on the morning of December 11 last year, the report stated.
The report said that the tank would have been full by 5:20 am, just 41 minutes before a series of explosions rocked the depot.
The report, which was the third progress report from the investigation by the Health and Safety Executive and Environment Agency, suggested that a faulty fuel gauge may have been partly to blame for the overflow of fuel, as well as human error.
The report said that the overflow of petrol caused a large vapour cloud to form over the Buncefield site, which was then ignited, possibly by a spark in a pump-house or a generator close to the site.
No blame has been attributed for the explosions, which were the largest to occur in peacetime Europe, in order to avoid prejudicing any future legal action, the report said.
No-one was killed in the explosion, but 43 people were injured and a number of properties damaged.
(KMcA)
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