Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Africa
Europe
Latin America
Middle East
North America
Search
Search:
Eleven dead in Ukraine apartment explosion
AFP - 2 hours 48 minutes ago
YEVPATORIA, Ukraine (AFP) - - At least 11 people were killed and dozens were still missing after an explosion ripped through an apartment block in a Ukrainian Black Sea resort town, local officials said Thursday.
Rescuers and residents were desperately searching the wreckage for survivors after the explosion struck five-story residential building in the Crimean Black Sea town of Yevpatoria late Wednesday night.
Ukrainian emergencies ministry spokesman Igor Krol told AFP that 11 people were killed and 24 were still missing. He added that so far 21 people had been rescued.
An AFP correspondent on the scene said the search party were regularly maintaining periods of complete silence so they could hear the voices of those still trapped under the rubble.
A spokesman for the local Crimean branch of the Ukrainian emergencies ministry said that up to 60 people were still missing and 20 had been rescued.
Two sections of the apartment building, constructed in 1965 and containing a total of 35 flats, were destroyed in the explosion.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who have been engaged in a ferocious political row over the last months, were both on their way to the scene, their offices said.
Tymoshenko has set up a special committee to deal with the rescue effort, her office said in a statement.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, with the authorities refusing to confirm that it was a gas explosion, the usual explanation for such incidents in apartment buildings in the former Soviet Union.
"This was not gas. It was probably oxygen that exploded. We are hoping to clear away the debris today," Ukraine's Emergency Situations Minister Volodymyr Chandra told Ukrainian television.
Krol confirmed that the authorities were still looking to establish what had caused the blast and refused to elaborate.
"There was no smell of gas," said Yevpatoria resident Svetlana Sergiichuk in comments broadcast on Russia's Channel 1 television.
Another resident, Lidia Kovalenko, said: "I saw a blue flame and smoke and... a horrible explosion."
"It felt like an earthquake but it must have been something else," said another resident.
Witnesses said that the cries of those trapped under the rubble could still be heard overnight, giving rise to hopes that more survivors could be found.
"We clearly heard a girl crying," one witness told AFP. The Ukraine emergencies ministry said it had some 300 rescuers already on the scene. Even mobile phones were being used in a bid to locate the survivors.
Television pictures showed rescuers seeking to uncover survivors by pulling away the huge concrete blocks which were all that remained of the section of the building that exploded.
Yevpatoria is a popular summer resort town in Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, lying some 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of the regional capital Simferopol. Crimea has a Russian-speaking majority population as well as substantial Ukrainian and Tartar minorities.
Explosions in ageing and poorly maintained Soviet-era apartment buildings, usually caused by gas, are not unusual in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
In October 2007, 15 people were killed in a gas explosion that partially destroyed a nine-storey building in Ukraine's eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk.
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (0 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: World
For first time, Christmas official holiday in IraqAP - 25 minutes ago
The Nation's WeatherAP - 31 minutes ago
Officials: 19 dead in Ukraine apartment gas blastAP - 55 minutes ago
Tourists, locals pray in Bethlehem on ChristmasAP - 1 hour 2 minutes ago
Coup leader declares himself new Guinea 'president'AFP - 1 hour 22 minutes ago
Enlarge Photo
Ukrainian riot police. At least 11 people were killed and dozens were still missing after an explosion ripped through an apartment block in a Ukrainian Black Sea resort town, local officials said Thursday.
Most Popular – World
Viewed
US sees no holiday cheer; Russia, China warn of grim 2009
French investor takes life after massive losses in Madoff scandal
Housing market feels more pain, bottom not yet in sight
Quake zone hero pig named China's animal of the year
Actress Jennifer Aniston appears naked in GQ magazine
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular