'I thought it might be a terror attack': Horror of guests at five-star London hotel after gas explosion rips through kitchen, leaving 14 injured
- Fourteen people were injured following the gas explosion at the hotel
- 500 staff and guests were forced to flee the Hyatt Regency Churchill
- Guests said they feared they had been caught up in a terror attack
Shocked guests told last night how they feared they had been caught up in a terror attack after an explosion rocked their five-star hotel in London.
Fourteen people were injured when the blast caused by a suspected gas leak ripped a hole in the basement of the £300-a-night Hyatt Regency Churchill Hotel in Portman Square.
In the aftermath of the explosion, 500 staff and guests – many still in their night clothes – were forced to flee the hotel.
Bricks, rubble and pieces of plaster were still at the scene today after workers attempted to clear up the aftermath of an explosion a a five-star hotel in London
Today, workers were attempting to establish the cause of the blast and clear up the mess it had created
Debris and broken windows were seen today near the hotel in the wake of the dramatic explosion
Stewart Dyer, 40, who was there with his wife and baby daughter, said: ‘It was a huge bang. I thought straight away it might be a terrorist attack.’
Rashid Al Marri, 27, from Qatar, said: ‘My first thought was 9/11. It sounded like a bomb.’
Guest Ahmed Al Maadeed, 34, also from Qatar, said the ceiling ‘began shaking like in an earthquake’.
Paramedics and firefighters raced to the scene of the blast, shortly before midnight on Friday.
The establishment, in Portman Square, was evacuated after part of the building began to collapse
Six fire engines attended the scene and two men sustained leg injuries from the incident
A spokesman for London Fire Brigade said: ‘The cause of the explosion is being investigated but is believed to have been caused by a gas leak.’
All of those hurt were night-time cleaners and five of them needed hospital treatment.
A Hyatt spokesman said the hotel would be closed for the foreseeable future.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2845684/I-thought-terror-attack-Horror-guests-five-star-London-hotel-gas-explosion-rips-kitchen-leaving-14-injured.html#ixzz3JtP95Xbj
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