MOSCOW, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – Two people were killed and 16 people injured in an explosion that tore through an apartment block in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said.
“The shock waves damaged concrete slabs and partitions on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors. The explosion took place on the 6th floor,” a local emergency services official said. The blast was likely to have been caused by a gas leak, according to officials.
People may still be trapped in the damaged building, where Ukrainian rescuers are working to find survivors, and about 60 people have been evacuated from the area, a local emergency services official said.
The explosion happened in an apartment block in the center of Lugansk, a large town about 800 kilometers from the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and near to the country’s border with Russia.
Updated with revised casualty figures
