A crash involving a car hitting a gas installation early this morning has resulted in the deaths of the two people in the vehicle and a fire in Coimbra city centre. There are at least two more people with serious injuries, and one with minor injuries.
Lusa reports that two women were found unconscious in the attic of a building which caught fire shortly after the accident. They have been taken to Coimbra University Hospital, and are described as ‘seriously injured’.
According to the commander of the Coimbra Fire Brigade, Paulo Palrilha, the women are in their 30s.
The person with minor injuries is a woman who was inside the vehicle that crashed, but managed to get out in time.
According to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority’s website, checked at 09:15, the situation in Avenida Sá da Bandeira is still being resolved.
Earlier, a source from Coimbra Fire Brigade told Lusa that this was “a worrying situation, because of the release of gas and the violent combustion” that followed.
The alert for this accident was raised shortly before 6.30am.
Further details will follow during the course of the day. What caused the car to ‘crash’ into the gas installation has not been fully explained. It appears the car left the road as it was coming down the avenida at around 6.20am, skidded along various walls, and then hit the gas supply point, which caused a very rapid explosion.
Source: LUSA
