Firefighter in Ra'anana
Firefighter in Ra'ananaYoni Kempinski

Arutz Sheva was at the scene of Sunday’s explosion in a paint shop in Ra’anana.

An initial investigation found that the fire was caused by gas cylinders which exploded. Six people were slightly injured from smoke inhalation. Police announced that two adjacent buildings to the factory might collapse from the impact of the explosion.

The police have detained several people on suspicion of negligence.

Eyewitnesses who spoke to Arutz Sheva described several blasts, after which a fire broke out near the Renanim Mall and smoke began gathering in the sky above Ra'anana.

The eyewitnesses also described how people quickly ran outside and evacuated the building following the explosions. Some of them said the series of explosions were heard for at least ten minutes.

According to Moshe Amar from the Operations Division of the Israeli Fire and Rescue Commission, “The first firefighting crews that arrived noticed a very big fire and signs of a huge explosion that occurred prior to that: broken display cases and windows, signs of the shock wave from the strong blast that happened. In the first stage there were reports of missing people whom we were very concerned about. After searches we came to the conclusion that the missing people are safe and sound and were not on the scene.”