It was around 7 a.m. on Monday morning when a huge explosion sounded in the town of Cayeux-sur-Mer (Somme). A building that serves as a shed, garage and kitchen on a small private campground has just been blown up. At the origin of the explosion, according to the first findings, a gas leak. There were only three minor injuries but the explosion was heard and felt several hundred meters away.
“We kept telling them: but you are alive!” – Isabelle, a neighbor
Isabelle was still sleeping when the explosion took place. She lives right next door. With her husband Emmanuel, they were among the first to rescue the two occupants of the land. “I heard a big noise, a big explosion which, for me, did not sound like anything and I heard my husband leave running” she says. Her husband witnessed the blast of the explosion “with all that was suspended in the sky.” Emmanuel’s first instinct was to go see on the spot, to help his neighbours. “There was a fire starting and as there are gas cylinders, I contained the fire so that the cylinders did not heat up. After us, we collected the people who were on the ground so that they did not stay not on the spot”.
– Delphine Marion Boulle
On the family plot there are four partly gutted caravans, there was only one couple occupying one of them. The two people are unharmed but very impressed says Isabelle: “The lady was shocked, she didn’t know where she was. I don’t think she realized what happened.” “They were lost, they were attached to details” says Emmanuel, “to things that seemed trivial, while we kept telling them – But you’re alive! – “ continues Isabelle for whom we did not go far from the drama. Her neighbor had just got up and was going to prepare her breakfast in the building. Within minutes, she could have been inside.
On the other side of the street, a campsite with nearly 200 mobile homes, all fully booked.
Thierry and Françoise’s mobile home overlooks the Allée des Garennes, opposite the site where the explosion occurred. They were awake but still in bed. Thierry finds it difficult to describe the phenomenon: “My wife could tell you it’s like a thunderstorm, but it’s worse than that. I was looking outside, through the bedroom window and saw a pile of debris flying to pieces” he says. “We saw a lot of stuff coming down from the sky, bits of paper, bits of fabric, bits of plastic” describes Francoise.
– Delphine Marion Boulle
Toys fell off the shelf, onto my baby boy – Marianne
On the other side of the campsite driveway, a little further, Marianne, her husband and one of the children were having lunch when the earth shook. “We even have the impression that it was lifting the ground and that it was shaking the mobile home. Toys fell from the shelf, on my little boy who was sleeping, we have a small plant pot which also fell”. The couple took the time to reassure the children, they preferred to stay there for the day and cancel the planned outing.
There were only three minor injuries, in the neighborhood, in the campsite in particular. This is the case of Gaëlle. She was preparing her coffee in front of the window, facing the explosion, in the front row. “We just have tinnitus issues and blast issues, but it’s very, very mild. I think we’ve all been very lucky,” she believes.
Three minor injuries and material damage
This is also an opinion shared by the firefighters of the Somme. Fortunately the explosion did not cause a fire on the private land where there are several pines and there were only three minor injuries in this densely populated area of the town. “We are in a residential development, there are many homes, second homes and more than 200 mobile homes on the campsite” emphasizes Lieutenant-Colonel Vincent Jourdain.
The debris from the building flew several tens of meters into the campsite. A metal rod crashed into Yvette’s mobile home “She was planted up there. It happened there!” she confides, “We said to ourselves that, she was going through the mobile home there!” adds Yvette, pointing to her neighbour’s window.
– Delphine Marion Boulle
The blast from the explosion also caused some damage to the mobile homes: “These are things that hold the windows open that have blown off, siding that has come off. There is no glass behind so it did not blow. These are material things to be repaired” explains Marie-Pierre Thébaut, the owner of the campsite.
In neighboring houses, windows were broken and roofs were also damaged. An investigation is opened. According to initial findings, a gas leak was the cause of the explosion.