FBI Investigates Gas Station Explosion

Many questions are left surrounding the death of a young Palestinian man. And, the FBI wants answers.

22-year-old Farid Karaka was burned alive after a gas station explosion early Wednesday morning on Busch Boulevard.

How did it happen?

Why was Karaka at a local Citgo mechanic’s garage at almost midnight. The garage was closed. He had just left friends at a local coffee shop and was en route to meet them at another location.

The FBI is asking all of these questions. But, they are tight-lipped on telling the media anything. They even refused comment on any connection of Karaka to 2 USF students who were recently arrested.

The question again is why. Have they established a connection? Are they looking into this as a matter of precaution? It would seem odd that a federal agency is involved in a matter left up to local fire investigators.

A local Muslim advocate group, CAIR, is welcoming any questions. And, wanting answers.

“Obviously when any crime happens or any accident happens, we welcome authorities and agencies getting to the bottom of things,” Ahmed Bedier told Tampa Bay’s 10 News at the scene of the fire. “We have lost a good young man.”

In keeping with Muslim tradition, the family wants the victim buried as soon as possible, which will most likely happen in Tampa. Karaka’s close family is located in Palestine. He was working in the United States to send money back home. Relatives in Brandon now have the somber task of burying their loved one, just 2 months before he was to marry a fiancé in New York.

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Original Story

Tampa Fire Rescue crews say one person was killed in a fire at a gas station early Wednesday morning.

Crews say witnesses reported hearing an explosion and then seeing flames as high as the treetops coming from the Citgo Gas Station on West Busch Boulevard just after midnight. Two men who worked across the street from the gas station saw what was happening, and ran to help. They say they found a man lying inside the garage area of Jacob’s Lube Repair Shop, which is attached to the gas station. They say they ran inside, but the flames were just too intense.

“I ran inside, and I reached down in there and slowly eased my way towards him, and the flames were so high and the smoke—it overtook me. All I could do was touch his boot a couple times, and I kept calling for him to look up it at me. He was just in so much pain, and so much trauma was going on that all I could do was just keep talking to him.”

Fire crews arrived at the scene, and they say they found smoke and flames coming from the building. They also say the doors of the service bay area have been blown off by the explosion.

When firefighters pulled the man from the burning building, they say he was already dead. He was later identified as Farid IA Karakra, a 22-year-old mechanic who worked there. Coworkers told investigators he left work around 7:30 p.m., but they’re not sure why he would have returned.

Fire crews worked quickly to put out the blaze, extinguishing the flames within about 30 minutes. They say the damage was contained to the west end of the building, which appears to be a car service area.

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire. On Wednesday morning, agents from ATF, FBI and the Tampa Bomb Squad were also at the scene, possibly looking into the cause of the explosion.

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