VIDEO DRAMATIC footage has been released of a cylinder exploding inside a van in the wake of an incident which led to 24 hours of travel chaos in East Anglia.

DRAMATIC footage has been released of a cylinder exploding inside a van in the wake of an incident which led to 24 hours of travel chaos in East Anglia.

The A12 was closed in both directions for ten hours during the rush hour on October 5 after a van belonging to Essex County Fire and Rescue Service caught fire on the busy dual carriageway.

Because the van contained an oxy-acetylene cylinder a 200-metre exclusion zone was set up due to fears the cylinder would explode in the intense heat.

Train services were also disrupted on the busy London-Norwich line after the section of track over the A12 also had to be closed and passengers were transferred onto buses.

The road was only partially reopened after 10 hours with the Ipswich-bound track finally taking traffic while London-bound remained shut as the cylinder was left to cool down overnight.

Essex Fire Service released dramatic footage of an oxy-acetylene cylinder exploding in a van to demonstrate the potentially devastating consequences.

Assistant chief fire officer Andy Fry, head of the fire service's safer communities directorate, said: “There have been questions about the necessity to close the road and rail following the incident last week.

“We do not take a decision to close a major artery in the county lightly and public safety was our main concern.

“We are certain that anyone viewing this footage would agree that our decision was the correct one.”