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| Roads re-opened after gas fears | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| About 50 residents moved out of their Maghera homes amid fears of a gas explosion have been allowed to return. | |
| A 200-metre exclusion zone was set up after a van containing an acetylene cylinder caught fire in the early hours of Saturday. | |
| The Lisnamuck Road and the Drumconready Road were closed but the area has now re-opened. | |
| Maurice Rafferty from the Fire and Rescue Service said their main priority was to ensure the safety of residents. | Maurice Rafferty from the Fire and Rescue Service said their main priority was to ensure the safety of residents. |
| He said crews implemented national safety arrangements when they arrived on the scene, and about 12 properties were evacuated. | |
| "Acetylene, when exposed to shock or heat, is quite dangerous and, indeed, can explode on occasion, therefore crews were forced with no other decision but to carry out an immediate evacuation to ensure community safety," he said. | |
| He said residents went to stay with relatives in the area. | |
| The van fire was left to burn itself out because of the danger to any firefighters trying to extinguish it. |