“The windows of the house shook…” Two large explosions shake Castres in the middle of the night

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It was around 10:20 p.m. when a explosion was heard on the road from Brassac to Castres (Tarn), not far from the Super U, Tuesday November 26, 2024. Then a second…

Very quickly, on social networks, everyone was asking the question. Plane breaking the sound barrier? Burnt out car that explodes?

Heard 10 kilometers away

As always in such circumstances, residents believe that the explosions took place near their homes. Some heard them as far as Saïx… “2 big explosions heard at 10:20 p.m. on the Salvage side. The windows of the house shook. Do you know what it was? », asks Jean-Christophe Muti on the public group “Castraises Castrais”.

It's on the R622, route de Brassac, north-east of Castres (about ten kilometers from Saïx), that the events took place.

Very quickly, significant resources were committed on site. Fire trucks, the police… Who don't necessarily know what to expect. There was no fire, no injuries, not even really an accident.

“I moved 2-3 meters away, not fast enough, the second one exploded…”

“I live right next door. At first, we don't really know what's going on. We opened the shutter with my partner, we saw something burning, smoke everywhere,” says a witness to the facts, Gianni Lombello, to Occitanie News.

The explanation finally arrived quite quickly. It was a crane truck. One of his tires had burst. “I went to see the truck driver, to ask him if he was okay. He told me yes. And told me to move away from the truck. I moved away 2-3 meters, not fast enough, the second one exploded…” continues Gianni Lombello.

“Headache for an hour”

“It gave us a headache for an hour because the noise was so loud,” assures this resident. “With the blast of the explosion, it’s quite impressive,” he continues. “Then later when we realized that what was burning in the middle of the road was the first tire that had exploded,” explains Gianni Lombello to Occitanie News.

A thesis confirmed by the firefighters Wednesday morning. “These are two burst tires following brake heating of a crane”, specifies the Tarn departmental fire and rescue service (Sdis 81).

The crane truck could not be removed from the road during the night; a special tow truck was in fact expected on site to move this 300-ton machine.

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