08 October 2013
Two men and eight police officers were hospitalised following an explosion and fire in a building where cooking oil was stored in Wentworthville, a suburb of Sydney, capital of the Australian state of New South Wales. The two-storey building comprised residential units on top of a Middle Eastern food shop.
Police officers who were first on the scene heroically risked their lives by entering and then re-entered the burning building without any protective gear to search for people trapped inside. Thetwo rescued men were found about 20 metres from each other and had been on the building's second floor before it collapsed. One man managed to scramble free of the rubble when police arrived, while the other man was pulled to safety by fire and rescue crews.
The building subsequently completely caved in as a result of the blaze, and the police have declared the area a crime scene and are treating the blaze as suspicious. At the moment, it is not known whether the explosion caused, or was a consequence of, the fire.
