Huge explosion ‘fuelled by EV batteries’ rips through airport killing boy, 15, & injuring 163 in blast felt for 20 miles

A GIANT explosion feared to have been triggered by detonating electric car batteries was felt up to 20 miles away. A 15-year-old boy died and 163 were injured following the huge blast in a customs warehouse near Tashkent Airport in Uzbekistan. The blast sent a huge fireball into the aireast2west A boy, 15, died in the wake of the blasteast2west Shocking footage shows the explosion at 2:43am local time, which caused damage to hundreds of houses and other buildings over a vast area. Initial reports suggested a plane crash, forcing the authorities in the ex-Soviet state to deny this was the cause of the thunderous  explosion that shook much of the city.  Dozens of ambulances ferries the wounded to hospitals and at least five children suffered wounds from shattered glass.  A 15-year-old boy died after a frame collapsed on his head due to the explosion. It is unclear how many people were in the warehouse when it exploded.   The Uzbek Interior Ministry was initially reported as saying “lightning struck a warehouse where electric cars and batteries were stored, causing a massive explosion and fire in Tashkent”, said a report. Later there were doubts that lightning had been a factor in the explosion. Batteries for electric cars exploded at the airport warehouse, causing the destruction of the building in the shock wave, reported Mash media outlet. There are suspicions explosives were also present in the  Inter Logistics LLC warehouse given the scale of the blast, but this was officially denied. Sixteen separate fire teams were seeking to extinguish the enormous blaze which covered more than 32,000 square feet.  The blast wave was felt by residents of Nurafshan, a town south of Tashkent, some 20 miles from the epicentre of the explosion.  “In some social media, fake news spread that the incident in the Sergeli district was a result of a plane crash. This is an absolute lie,” said the Uzbek Emergencies Ministry.  The ministry later said it was working to establish full details of the cause of the explosion. Flights at the nearby Tashkent airport were reportedly not impacted by the explosion and inferno.