26 hurt after man sets fire to bank
MELBOURNE: Twenty-six people were hurt yesterday, some critically, after a man set fire to a busy bank with one witness saying he heard a “big blast” and children screaming.
Police said the man entered the Commonwealth Bank branch in the suburb of Springvale here with flammable liquid. Some reports said he doused himself with the accelerant and went up in flames, although this was not confirmed.
“He had some sort of accelerant with him. A container, not sure what he had. And somehow that accelerant was lit inside the bank,” Inspector Jacqui Poida said.
The motive was not clear and Poida said it was too early to tell if it was terror related. Paramedics said six of those injured were in a critical condition. One is believed to be the suspect, who is under police guard.
Fire crews were quickly on the scene with Country Fire Authority official Paul Carrigg saying the bank’s doors were shut when they arrived.
Witness Ashley Atkin-Fone, hailed a hero after running into the
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at the Commonwealth Bank in Springvale, bank to help, said he heard “a big blast” and children screaming.
“This kid comes running out all burnt, screaming his head off... blood everywhere... I was shocked for a couple of minutes,” he told the Herald Sun newspaper.
Atkin-Fone grabbed a fire extinguisher from a nearby shop and ran into the bank to try and put out the
flames, saying: “What do you do? Instincts just kicked in.”
Another witness Ernie Gonzalez told the Melbourne Age bank tellers had to run through the flames to get out of the building.
“I could see flames in the entrance and I could see people running out covered in charcoal — they were black,” he said. AFP