LPG cylinder explodes during suspicious blaze in Yuen Long
Force of blast shatters windows in nearby grocery store and childcare and youth centre
A liquified petroleum gas cylinder exploded during a suspicious blaze under a footbridge on Friday, shattering the windows of a Yuen Long childcare and youth centre as well as a grocery store nearby.
Emergency personnel were deployed when the blaze broke out under a footbridge in Chun Yin Square behind the Chow Sung Chu Oi Child Care and Youth Centre shortly after 5am.
According to police, miscellaneous items including two LPG cylinders and some electrical appliances had burst into flames.
“During the blaze, one of the LPG cylinders exploded,” a police spokesman said.
The childcare and youth centre and a shop nearby both had their windows shattered from the force of the explosion, he added.
A video clip showed the blast happened seconds after a fireman riding a motorcycle arrived at the scene.
“I felt the floor shaking, and I thought it was an earthquake,” an elderly woman living in a nearby residential block said.
Several windows on the mezzanine floor of the grocery store were shattered. The owner said she was eating nearby when she heard about the fire.
“There was a loud bang while I was on the way back,” she said.
Firefighters used a water jet and doused the flames at 5.16am. No one was injured in the incident.
“Firemen found the blaze suspicious because there was no natural cause, and the spread of the flames was unusual,” a government spokesman said.
The case has been classified as arson.
It is understood that Yuen Long crime-squad officers are also investigating who left the items under the bridge. So far, no arrests have been made.
