A powerful explosion ripped through two stories of an apartment building in the Romanian capital on Friday morning, killing three people including a 21-year-old pregnant woman and injuring at least 13 others.
The explosion affected the fifth and sixth floors of the eight-story building in a residential district in southwest Bucharest, head of the capital’s Inspectorate for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat said. “The most probable cause is gas,” he said.
Distrigraz confirmed they had been called to the building at the time of the accident over a gas leak. The previous day they had shut off a leak but the pipe appeared to have been turned back on. Prosecutors are investigating.
Video footage released by emergency authorities showed the facades of corner apartments on two stories badly dented by the blast, which also blew out windows in neighboring apartments. Rubble was hurled across the street below.
More than a dozen emergency vehicles, including 11 fire engines and four mobile intensive care units, were dispatched to the scene of the blast on Calea Rahovei in the southwest of the capital.
The cause of the fatal blast was not immediately clear, but authorities said the gas supply had been shut off in the area as a safety precaution.
Romania’s Ministry of Health said victims had been reported with trauma and burns.
The ministry later said one person was found dead under a concrete slab on the building’s sixth floor. At least 13 people were transported to hospitals in the capital.
Residents were evacuated from the building and rescuers carried out search operations to identify anyone trapped. Roads were closed in the area.
Students and teachers at a nearby school were evacuated as a precaution, Bucharest’s School Inspectorate said.
“Following the explosion, another nearby apartment block was affected, where detached construction elements from the building’s facade were observed,” emergency authorities said in a statement.
