OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1678 posts, RR: 2 Posted (3 years 6 months 4 weeks 1 hour ago) and read 2839 times:
A blast in Puerto Rico's main oil refinery has caused a massive fire, which will burn for the next 2 days as fuel continues to burn out in the 11 tanks that are ablaze. The usual landing path to SJU has been affected by the huge plume of smoke coming from the fire, and aircraft are now being routed further out into the ocean.
Chepos From Puerto Rico, joined Dec 2000, 5966 posts, RR: 12 Reply 1, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 20 hours ago) and read 2676 times:
I didnt know the smoke and fire was so big. Having flown into San Juan many times I have been on flights that come in over Old San Juan (the El Morro area), meaning they dont overfly Catano (close to it). I just hope this fire does not expand into a residential area.
OB1504 From United States of America, joined Jul 2004, 2965 posts, RR: 8 Reply 2, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 19 hours ago) and read 2658 times:
The news article linked to in the earlier thread (where it was erroneously reported that Spirit Airlines flight 837 had crashed into the refinery) is now reporting that it was a light aircraft crash:
Quote: Reports are coming in that the explosion outside San Juan Puerto Rico was NOT caused by the flight mentioned below, but a small plane instead. It has caused an industrial fire at a gas refining facility outside the city.
Again, the Associated Press is reporting they have official word that the explosion was caused by a small plane crash, NOT the flight mentioned below in the original article below.
OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1678 posts, RR: 2 Reply 3, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2566 times:
Quoting OB1504 (Reply 2): The news article linked to in the earlier thread (where it was erroneously reported that Spirit Airlines flight 837 had crashed into the refinery) is now reporting that it was a light aircraft crash:
Quote:
Reports are coming in that the explosion outside San Juan Puerto Rico was NOT caused by the flight mentioned below, but a small plane instead. It has caused an industrial fire at a gas refining facility outside the city.
Again, the Associated Press is reporting they have official word that the explosion was caused by a small plane crash, NOT the flight mentioned below in the original article below.
Given that this was the same news source pushing the report about the Spirit plane, I would be skeptical about this version about the small plane too. And there does not seem to be any other news source backing this up.
In this article published by El Nuevo Dia in Spanish, the PR police superintendent rejects that the fire was caused by any type of plane crash:
El superintendente de la Policía, José Figueroa Sancha, explicó que las explosiones se produjeron en once de los treinta tanques de la refinería y que se ha confirmado que ningún avión produjo el accidente, ya que la ruta de los aparatos que aterrizan en el aeropuerto de Carolina se halla cerca de la instalación petrolera.
Plainplane From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 803 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2549 times:
The latest news reports state that graffiti painted nearby before the blast indicate that the explosion was likely an intentional act, either of vandalism, arson, or terrorism.
OP3000 From United States of America, joined Jun 2009, 1678 posts, RR: 2 Reply 5, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 6 days 18 hours ago) and read 2528 times:
Quoting Plainplane (Reply 4): The latest news reports state that graffiti painted nearby before the blast indicate that the explosion was likely an intentional act, either of vandalism, arson, or terrorism.
I wouldn't be surprised if this was intentional. The political situation in PR over the past month has been very tense. But given that the accident happened at 12AM last night and the graffiti was found under a highway overpass, unless somebody saw the writing in previous days it could just have easily been painted after the fire started.
Aeroflot001 From Argentina, joined Oct 2009, 384 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (3 years 6 months 3 weeks 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 2144 times:
This is so pathetic. Surely now my granparents will have to pay more for gas and have to deal with a not so pleasant smell in the air for a few days not to mention the detour of aircraft into SJU. Its a good thing wind is blowing north otherwise a very good part of the island would have had much stronger effects. I really hope it was an accident because if it was some kind of group that was trying to create a Puerto Rican reolution all they have done now is raise their gas prices.
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