PETALING JAYA: Multiple explosions at an illegal gas tank warehouse near here shook the ground and was heard as far as five kilometres away when a fire broke out.

Frantic callers to Menara Star here claimed to see the fire from the NKVE highway as well as from apartment buildings in Section 16, almost 10 kilometres away.

The incident took place at 9pm in Damansara Idaman, just a hundred metres away from the Tropicana Golf & Country Resort. Witnesses living nearby claimed to have heard more than 10 loud explosions within a space of 15 minutes. They claimed the explosions shook their houses.

Members of the public watching as the fire razes the illegal gas tank warehouse in Damansara Idaman on Tuesday night.

Selangor Fire department spokesman Norihan Said said the department received the first distress call at 9.31pm and arrived 10 minutes later.

"A total of 26 firefighters and five fire engine trucks from Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam, Subang Jaya and Sungai Buloh managed to control the fire by 10.02pm.

"Quick action by firefighters also managed to save a home for HIV sufferers and a drug rehabilitation centre housing 28 people located just beside the warehouse," he added.

Norihan said initial investigations show that the illegal warehouse was located directly under an electrical power line and housed over 100 cooking gas and industrial gas tanks.

A resident living nearby who declined to be named claimed the warehouse had been operating for almost seven years.

Police are now focusing their efforts to locate the owner of the warehouse as its workers were said to have fled in several lorries laden with dozens of cooking gas tanks as soon as police arrived at the scene.