ONLY a miracle prevented the oil depot explosion in Hemel Hempstead killing scores of people and injuring hundreds, police said.

As the blaze in Hertfordshire was declared the largest fire of its kind in peacetime Europe, only one man suffered life-threatening injuries. A worker at the depot, he was in intensive care at Watford General Hospital last night with lung injuries after being hit by the shockwave as he stood 200 metres from the explosion.

A further 41 people were treated for minor cuts and bruises caused by flying glass and masonry. They have all been sent home. Another man who had been at the depot was being kept in hospital for observation. His condition was stable.

Up to 2,000 people were evacuated from homes and businesses in Hemel Hempstead after the explosion, which could be heard up to 40 miles away and shook the county just after 6am yesterday.

A neighbouring housing and industrial estate took the full brunt of the blast. More than 180 guests at the nearby Ramada Hotel were evacuated. Two suffered cuts and bruising. More than 50 families contacted the local authority to seek emergency accommodation.

A security guard working close to the fuel depot told last night how he had been knocked unconscious by the force of the blast. Raheel Ashraf, 26, said: “When I came to, I could see the flames and knew I had to get out. The whole building was torn apart but I was stuck on the top floor. It was absolutely terrifying.

“All I could hear was this long thundery sound. Walls had collapsed . . . so I didn’t have to jump as far as I would have done. I was in too much shock to run — I just crawled on my hands and knees praying I would get out alive . . . I am the luckiest man alive.”

A billowing plume of acrid smoke plunged towns and a long stretch of the M1 motorway into partial darkness. Roads across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire became gridlocked as the M1 was closed.

It is believed that 18 of the depot’s 20 tanks, each holding three million litres of fuel, on one half of the site, had ignited. Only ten people were at the depot, a third of its normal staff, when the explosion happened.

Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire Police, said: “It looks as though we have got away miraculously lightly. Thank God it was 6am on a Sunday morning.”

Those in the path of the smoke were urged to stay indoors and close their windows. Schools, libraries and day centres in Hemel Hempstead will be closed today.

Police were investigating reports from some tanker drivers that they saw vapours rising from the tanks moments before the explosion.

Early fears that a terrorist cell had flown an aircraft into the depot were dismissed after the Civil Aviation Authority said no plane was in the area at the time. Because the depot is on the list of potential terrorist targets, anti-terrorist officers are helping the investigation.

Mr Whiteley added: “All indications are that this was an accident. However, we are keeping an open mind and are also treating this as a crime scene.”

Of the 100 officers who were at the scene and policing an exclusion zone, more than 20 needed hospital check-ups after inhaling the smoke. Police from neighbouring forces in London, Essex and Bedfordshire were drafted in to help.

People as far as 200 miles away in France, Belgium and the Netherlands claimed to have heard the blasts.

EYEWITNESSES

“I just saw this great big ball of fire. It was about 50 metres wide. Then there was the loudest explosion I have ever heard in my life. It took me off my feet”
Paul Turner, tanker driver

“The air was sucked past us and there were pipes and things flying around. It threw us across the yard and we got up and ran to the gates”
Terry Hines, tanker driver

“The tiles came off the bathroom wall, the blinds in the conservatory all came down and when I went into the street people had lost their garage doors, front doors and windows. Neighbours were running everywhere, screaming"
John Nagle, Hemel Hempstead resident

“There was a horrendous bang, I looked out and saw this huge fireball, I thought a plane had crashed”
Annette Hopkinson, 48, from Hunter’s Oak

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