Search: Boston fatal explosion chemicals alcohol
Five men killed in an explosion at an industrial unit may have been producing illegal alcohol.
Investigators have found evidence to suggest the unit in Boston, Lincolnshire, was being used as an illegal distillery.
Five men, believed to be eastern European, died after the blast on Wednesday night, while a sixth suffered 75% burns and has undergone surgery.
Locals near the site of the explosion and ensuing inferno speculated the unit was being used to produce alcohol.
Lincolnshire Police Superintendent Keith Owen said: "What I can confirm is that we have found chemicals on the premises which tend to indicate either the manufacture or production of alcohol."
Mr Owen said the issue of illegal alcohol production was not a new one for the area.
Earlier this year police, Trading Standards and Revenue and Customs swooped on six stores in the town, seizing counterfeit vodka. The spirit was later found to contain "Isopropyl" alcohol, widely used as a solvent and a cleaning fluid.
Last month Trading Standards bosses said Boston Borough Council's licensing committee had revoked the alcohol licence of one store, International Foods, and suspended that of another, Boston Deli, with action due to be taken against the other four.
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Ian Nuttall, 42, who lives 200 yards from the unit on Broadfield Lane Industrial Estate, said: "There was a rumour that it was some Polish nationals who have been making their own vodka, which is a bit of a problem around here at the moment."
Police are trying to identify the five men - whose bodies have been removed from the unit - with post-mortem examinations due to be carried out.
