Tragedy struck just north of Bucharest as two explosions ripped through an unlicensed liquefied petroleum gas filling station on Saturday evening. The incident resulted in one fatality and 57 individuals sustaining injuries, officials confirmed.
Most of the wounded were brave firefighters who had rushed to the scene to control the fire sparked by the initial explosion. Tragically, a second explosion occurred while they were still battling the blaze.
Among the casualties, which included severe burn victims, were 39 firefighters, two police officers, and two gendarmes. Raed Arafat, the head of the emergency department, reported on Sunday that four individuals had been transferred abroad for medical treatment—two firefighters and two civilians. The destinations for these transfers were Italy and Belgium, as stated by the defense ministry.
Details regarding the cause of the explosions in Crevedia, a commune of villages, remain uncertain. Authorities have initiated an investigation to determine the circumstances behind the tragic incident.
Arafat noted, “We know that the station was no longer working, so it clearly didn’t have a permit to function.”
The fire prompted the evacuation of residents within a radius of approximately 700 meters (770 yards).
Photographs of the scenes depicting the blasts can be found below.
