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A NUMBER OF people have been injured after an explosion at a block of flats in Oxford.
Emergency services in the central southern English city were alerted at around 4.45pm yesterday following reports of an explosion, a fire and the collapse of a building.
Thames Valley Police said residents had been evacuated from nearby properties. The local ambulance service also responded. The BBC reported that up to 40 firefighters dealt with the blaze.
The cause of the explosion is unknown.
“We are keeping an open mind as to the cause of the incident however we are not treating it as terrorism-related,” Chief Inspector of Thames Valley Police Marc Tarbit said in a statement.
Oxfordshire County Council said last night that a number of people were still unaccounted for.
“At about 4.45pm or 4.50pm I was upstairs and there was an enormous bang,” Mike Magee, who lives nearby, told the Oxford Times.
“I thought ‘oh my God’ somebody’s boiler has gone off.
I went downstairs and opened the back door and there was a series of explosions lasting two or three minutes. The first was so loud I was alarmed by it. The rest were not so loud. They were like fireworks or gun shots.
The paper reported that emergency workers had been scouring the rubble in the aftermath of the incident.
Further updates are expected from local emergency services this morning.
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I found this oul yoke in the front garden, looks a bit like a pipe bomb, don’t know if it’s dangerous and decided I’d pop it in and see if it’s……. Jaysus, what are youse all running away for?
@Fiona deFreyne: ha ha ha ha ha brill!
Ah here,why walk into a barracks or bloody anywhere if you found a suspicious device???
@j lad: Correct.The fool/idiot or something else who brought this “object” into the Garda station was up to no good(I suspect).No person in their right mind would do such a thing.I wonder was the reason to create a major distraction in that area?Interesting to find what the object contained.
@j lad: I wonder was a friend of theirs in custody at the time and they were looking to get out?
@liam whelan: quite possible but i reckon a lack of intelligence more likely.i’d say if his brains were dynamite he wouldn’t have enough to blow his nose
@j lad: could have been 60 something year old who knows no better in fairness. Can’t see some 18 year old scrote walking in with it, he’d probably hold on to it to throw into someone’s house!
@liam whelan: Nah, someone of that age would call instead of picking it up
I mean this affectionately, but it’s a bit Irish, isn’t it?
@Fiona deFreyne: I must say I have never understood the meaning of that phrase – probably a hangover from the times of the British in Ireland.
@Fiona deFreyne: t
The fact that you said ‘affectionately’ makes it sound even more condescending. Just saying…….
@Sean Higgins: I’m Irish and if we can’t have a little fun, it means that we take ourselves too seriously. Ahh well, I suppose we Irish are a bit precious.
@Tony deFreyne : He was just showing the Jihadist lads how the Irish do the suicide bombing craic to get a job. Or is that a bit too near the mark of precious territory?
@Patrick J. O’Rourke:
Number of jihadist bombs in Ireland – Zero.
Number of Repub/Loyalist bombs in Ireland – Thousands.
Or is that a bit too near the mark of precious territory?
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: ROTFL @PAtrick, must have added this to his LinkedIn profile ;)
@Brinster: I am very we aware of that thank you. I was replying to Tony deFreyne’s sentiments and splattering the ridiculous to emphasise the point of what is precious to see what other people thought. As for the stuff you mention, Yep I saw some.
@eastsmer:
Poor old Fiona still has the colonial mindset.
@Brinster:
How many British Army armered cars and tanks and guns, Brinster?
Happened in Swords a few years back. A guy found a pipe bomb stuck to the bottom of his car so he drive it to Swords Gardai station. Needless to say mayhem ensued!
“It shows the danger the gardai face” what about the army guys left dealing with it f##king fool
@Jack Crabbe: they probably got the heads up that there was a suspected explosive when they were called in, and would know to send their trained experts with appropriate protective gear. As opposed to a desk sergeant who normally just signs passport picture
@Karen Wellington: Don’t mock the desk sergeant signing passport photos. A pen could break and splinter into his eye or anything! And there’s no telling when you’ll find a larger than usual blob of mustard inside your hang sandwich. These are dangerous times for the guardians of the peace.
@Jack Crabbe: “f##king fool” is a bit much. The Gardai obviously were in danger there as would be the army on arrival. It’s not a competition. They work together. As for the desk sergeant jibes, he might be on the desk today but could have been running in to Citywest yesterday. Job varies. Not just 1 thing every day.
@Mick Murphy: My comment really wasn’t a jibe, gardaí have to deal with junkies and violent offenders on a daily basis (and sometimes idiots who find bombs), they get bitten and spat at and so, so much worse. My point was that he or she doesn’t have any training in dealing with explosives or access to the necessary protective clothing and equipment. The Army EOD team had the necessary expertise and they took over, I haven’t heard about any explosions in Finglas today so it was obviously a job well done.
@Karen Wellington: No….I got all that from your original comment. The jibe/joke was the next one. Yeah for sure a job well done. Fair dues.
Where are those posters from the article on pay and conditions in the Army today?
“Here, Garda. I found this yoke owside me gaff and I reckoned it could be a bleed’in bomb. So I thought the sensible thing to do would be pick the thing up and bring it to yous, like.”
Anybody recognise him?
https://youtu.be/C3PBiF5W54E
Only in Ireland. Anywhere else they’d run a mile.
As you do lmao I’d love to have seen the Garda’s face….
I’d say that went down a bomb with the Guards
If those walls could talk……
Only in Finglas.
@Ian Heaton: or tallaght, or Ballyfermot etc
He should be done for attempted murder. What a stupid thing to do.
@Darren Bates: I’d say gross stupidity. Reminds me of the guy who walked into the bar and hands out with a dog turd in his hand and says “look what i nearly stepped in”
How stupid was that man.
My daughters crèche faces the Garda station. I got a phone call to say there was a bomb outside and the crèche was blocked off and that parents would not be allowed through
have your say