A series of explosions tore through a fuel depot north of London before dawn on Sunday, spewing flames and a column of black smoke high into the sky in what police said was probably an accident. "There is nothing to suggest at this stage that this is anything other than an accident, although we are keeping an open mind," a Hertfordshire police spokeswoman said. She dismissed earlier reports that a plane had crashed into the depot. The Buncefield oil depot supplies petrol and fuel oils for a large part of southeast England. Oil is brought to the depot, near the town of Hemel Hempstead, in an underground pipeline from tankers unloading on Britain's east coast. "There was an explosion in the vicinity of Buncefield depot at about 0604 GMT, the spokeswoman said. "We have got no figure for casualties. Obviously we are at the scene but it is difficult to gauge because of all the smoke." Three hours after the blast, a huge column of black smoke continued to billow several hundred feet into the air. A Reuters photographer near the scene said he could see flames still blazing up to 50 feet (15 metres) high from at least two sources. He said houses several hundred yards away from the depot had had their windows blown out.
