Exploding manhole cover sparks panic in Central London as man rushed to hospital
A 'cloud of white smoke' was reportedly seen near the station.
An exploding manhole cover led to claims of an "explosion" hitting central London this morning as a cloud of white smoke was seen near Fenchurch Street station.
Eyewitnesses on X, formerly Twitter, reported seeing "hundreds" of police officers and paramedics rushing to the scene.
The station had been cordoned off, according to reports. The nature of the reported explosion and incident is currently unknown, but it is understood to have led to power outages.
London Fire Brigade said smoke was coming from a manhole cover in Mark Lane in the City of London and one man has been taken to hospital.
Firefighters have made the scene safe after being called to smoke coming from a manhole cover on Mark Lane in the #CityofLondon this morning.
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) October 27, 2023
One man has been taken to hospital. @CityPolice are on scene providing support pic.twitter.com/y9h8mb1nhU
Transport for London services to and from the station have not been affected by the explosion, according to TfL.
London Ambulance Service (LAS) was called at 8.01am on Friday (October 27) to reports of an incident in Hart Street and Mark Lane.
A LAS spokesperson said: "We sent a number of resources to the scene, including an ambulance crew, an incident response officer, an emergency planning officer and members of our hazardous area response team.
"We treated a patient at the scene for minor injuries before taking them to hospital."
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Witnesses reported seeing smoke near the station, with some taking to X. One person wrote: "Any idea what’s happening?? Big cloud of white smoke earlier but not sure what’s going on".
Another commented: "All the emergency services are present near Fenchurch Street station, some areas cordoned off".
A spokesperson for London Fire Brigade said in an update just before midday: "Firefighters were called to reports of smoke coming from a manhole cover on Mark Lane in the City of London this morning.
"One man was taken to hospital. The incident is now under control."
A spokesperson for UK Power Networks confirmed this afternoon that its engineers are helping to investigate the manhole, which belongs to another utility.
They added: "For safety reasons we have turned off supplies to seven customers while investigations continue. We are working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to those affected."