Radio Brisvaani
One witness told Channel Seven that the man who lit the fire had been complaining about money moments before the attack.
Commonwealth Bank Chief Executive Officer Ian Narev made these comments on the incident at Springvale:
“We are deeply concerned about the incident today at our branch in Springvale. Our absolute priority is the welfare of our customers and staff who were in the branch at the time. We have teams assisting our people and a customer liaison officer available for affected customers, and will keep them engaged as long as is necessary. We thank the emergency authorities for their quick response and actions.”
A spokesman for The Alfred hospital confirmed it was caring for six patients with burns. He said:
Emotional scenes outside bankA woman named Sophie Mach filmed the aftermath of the fire and posted the emotional footage to Facebook.
It shows an injured woman cradling her son, as they are comforted by friends.
CCTV footage shows man walking to servo with containerA man has been filmed on a local cafe’s CCTV footage picking up a large container from outside the Asmara cafe and taking it to a nearby service station.
The footage then shows him returning at 11.22am, moments before the fire, and walking past the cafe in the direction of the bank.
A short time later an explosion is heard.
This is video of the man who was photographed in a lane at the back of the bank after the fire. He was seen being spoken to by police before being taken away to be treated by paramedics.
A patient who had been waiting at the emergency department of Monash Medical Centre since 11.40am said he saw about four or five people wearing Commonwealth Bank uniforms being admitted to the hospital after the disaster.
He said he did not get a good look at them but that they were able to walk from the ambulance bay into the emergency department.
Dandenong CFA operations officer Paul Carrigg said there had been an explosion because of the way the fire was started.
“There’s been apparently a flammable liquid used, I’m not sure what the flammable liquid was,” he said at the scene.
Was there evidence of an explosion? “Absolutely”
“A lot of flammable liquids will cause explosions”.
Three children among hospital patientsA spokesperson for Monash Medical Centre said the Clayton hospital was caring for 13 patients, including three children. All are in a “satisfactory condition”.
She said Dandenong Hospital was caring for 11 adults, including two who have been admitted to a ward for further treatment. The remaining nine are being observed in the emergency department.
The Monash Health hospital network called a “Code Brown” to respond swiftly to the fire. The code, which is called for any external disaster, usually involves the hospital discharging patients who are ready to go home so the emergency departments can send patients to wards, and make space for incoming patients.
“Our Code Brown response was put into action and incident command centres were established at both Clayton and Dandenong,” she said.
It took firefighters as little as 90 seconds to reach the scene.
There had been reports that the security shutters prevented firefighters from reaching the victims. We now understand this may not be correct and that the doors of the bank were closed but that emergency services then entered with breathing apparatus and were able to rescue the victims who were taken out the front of the building.
What we know so farIt has been just over four hours since a man deliberately lit a fire at the Commonwealth Bank branch in Springvale.
‘Police surround man in lane’After witnessing people run out from the bank, passer-by Ernie Gonzalez went out to a lane behind the branch towards his friend’s fruit shop.
He said he saw a man, aged in his mid-20s, crouched behind some boxes.
“He was wearing tracksuit pants that were burnt, they looked like shorts,” he said.
“His skin was falling off his legs.”
Mr Gonzalez said he saw police surround the man before he was taken to hospital by paramedics.
Six people with life-threatening injuriesAndy Raughton from Ambulance Victoria said the scene was ‘quite chaotic’ and that paramedics had to treat patients at the scene with a mix of burns and respiratory injuries before transporting them to hospital. .
He said six people were in a critical condition with life-threatening injuries.
He did not say whether any of those six were children.
“It is significant for us,” he said.
Greater Dandenong Acting Inspector Jackie Poida said that the man walked into the bank at 11.30am and lit himself on fire with an “accelerant”.
She did not say whether that accelerant was petrol purchased from a nearby service station.
Police do not currently have a description of the offender, who is in hospital with burn injuries.
She said it was fortunate no one was killed in the blast.
“Emergency services responded as quick as they could and I’m sure that effort has contributed to less serious injuries,” she said.
Springvale Road would remain closed for some time, she said.
