A truck’s fuel tank has exploded in a neighbourhood south of downtown Los Angeles, in the US, sending a fireball into the air and injuring nine of the 10 firefighters responding to the blaze.
All nine LA firefighters were rushed on Thursday to Harbor-UCLA Medical Centre and stabilised, and one of the critical patients was flown to a burn unit at Los Angeles General Medical Centre.
Of the others who were injured, four suffered moderate injuries and three had minor injuries.
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The truck driver escaped injury after noticing something was awry with the big rig’s tractor and stepped away to call emergency services, officials said.
The tractor was fuelled by compressed natural gas carried in two 380-litre tanks, one of which exploded six minutes after firefighters arrived on the scene in Wilmington.
The neighbourhood is 30km south of downtown, near the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
TV news helicopter video showed charred and mangled parts of the truck with a small flame still burning, along with discarded firefighting gear where the injured crew members were initially treated.