Update: The authorities announced on Sunday that a woman who suffered severe burns on 95% of her body also died, Biziday.ro reported. Meanwhile, several of the injured have been transported abroad for treatment.

Initial story: One person died and 57 were injured after two massive explosions at an LPG fuel station in the town of Crevedia, southern Romania. Several of the injured are in critical condition after having suffered severe burns and could be transferred to hospitals abroad for treatment.

Among those injured, there are 39 firefighters, two policemen and two gendarmes, according to the Romanian Ministry of Interior (MAI).

About 3,000 people living around the site of the blast were evicted, according to Digi24.ro.

According to the official reports, there were two explosions. The first one occurred as employees of the LPG station were transferring highly inflammable fuel from one tanker truck to another, according to eyewitnesses quoted by Digi24.ro. At that moment, there were six tank trucks each with 10,000 liters of LPG at the LPG station.

The firefighters who intervened after the first blast were injured by the second one, which probably occurred at one of the other tankers.

The blasts, which took place late in the evening, were visible from Bucharest, 22 kilometers away from the site, according to Hotnews.ro.

The firm that owned the LPG station didn’t have an operating permit and the fuel station had been closed in 2020, head of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU) Raed Arafat said on Sunday, according to Hotnews.ro.

According to media reports, the company that owns the station is controlled by the son of a Social Democrat (PSD) politician – the mayor of Caracal. Prime minister and head of the Social Democratic Party Marcel Ciolacu, who went to visit the victims at a hospital in Bucharest, said he didn’t know about this and that his priority was to save as many lives as possible. He added that whoever was guilty for the tragedy would answer to the law.

The General Prosecutor's Office started a criminal investigation.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: DSU on Facebook)