Arson or accident? FBI, ATF investigate fuel depot fire in Puerto Rico

[maddezmom]

Arson or accident? FBI, ATF investigate fuel depot fire in Puerto RicoOctober 26, 2009 -- Updated 1639 GMT (0039 HKT)


San Juan, Puerto Rico (CNN) -- Investigators don't know if the massive fire at a fuel storage facility near San Juan was deliberately started or was an accident, the agent in charge of the FBI's San Juan office said Monday.

The blaze, which started with an explosion at the Caribbean Petroleum Corp. facility in Bayamon municipality early Friday, was extinguished Sunday, firefighters said. Some of the tanks continued to smolder and crews stood ready to fight any flare-up.

"We don't know if it's a crime scene," said FBI Special Agent Luis Fraticelli. "We don't know if it's an accident, so we're not making any determinations at this point until our experts do their work, do their analysis and then provide input to us as to what they feel happened here."

Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.

The FBI is investigating graffiti found on two San Juan tunnels that referred to a fire, Special Agent Harry Rodriguez said Friday. A spray-painted message on the tunnels, less than three miles apart, said: "Boom, fire, RIP, Gulf, Soul, ACNF." Caribbean Petroleum owns the Gulf Oil brand, but Rodriguez said he did not know what ACNF referred to.

more:http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/26/puerto.rico.fire/