Gardaí in New Ross are investigating an arson attack following an explosion in a hotel car park.
Gardai are investigating the arson attack on vehicles on Wednesday night in the car park of the hotel which occurred shortly before midnight.
The explosion saw guests at the Mount Brandon Hotel in the town evacuated from their rooms as emergency services battled the blaze.
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It is believed an accelerant was used to ignite a Mini vehicle along with an Audi vehicle, with a fuel trail leading to both cars, while two adjoining vehicles were also damaged.
New Ross Garda Superintendent Jarleth Duffy said: "We are treating it as arson and we are investigating it as a criminal damage incident."
Supt Duffy said nobody has been arrested, adding, that one of the vehicles belonged to someone from outside the New Ross area, while the other written-off vehicle was owned by a businessman.
During the incident, the two cars became engulfed in a fire ball. Such was the intensity of the heat, a 171 Volvo car parked two spaces away from it also sustained serious damage.
Supt Duffy said: "We are looking at all avenues and motives relating to the incident."
People in surrounding housing estates heard a loud explosion around 11.30pm and shortly afterwards two fire tenders from New Ross arrived at the scene.
The hotel was evacuated for around twenty minutes with everyone from children to elderly people waiting outside until such time as the fire service confirmed that the scene was safe.
The fire service remained at the scene until 3.30am as forensic investigations continued.
One eye witness who was staying at the hotel, and asked to remain anonymous, said: "I worked with the fire service and that was potentially a very dangerous situation as the trees could have went up like candles, and, as they're located beside the hotel, there could have been fire damage to the corner room."
He said all guests were evacuated in a calm manner and waited outside until the fire crews had the blaze under control. The fire crews remained at the scene for several hours with gardai also in attendance.
