Prague explosion injures dozens

Monday, April 29, 2013

A massive explosion in the centre of Czech capital Prague has injured 35 or more people this morning.

The blast occurred just before 10am local time in a building on Divadelní Street. Spokesman for local authorities Tomas Hulan says it is uncertain what caused the detonation but a natural gas leak is suspected. "A gas blast seems to be the most likely cause", he said. "The explosion was rather massive and damaged windows in several streets".

The blast shattered windows of buildings in the area, including the National Theatre. Police have sealed off the area and are currently searching for people they believe may be trapped beneath the rubble.

Zdeněk Schwarz, head of the Prague rescue service, said rescue workers had not yet been able to enter the building where the explosion occurred to search for missing people and determine any further gas leaks.

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Karel Janicek and Adam Pemble. "Powerful Blast Injures Up To 40 In Prague" — Associated Press, April 29, 2013
AAP. "Four feared dead in Prague blast" — The Australian, April 29, 2013
Dinah Spritzer. "Explosion rocks building in Prague" — USA Today, April 29, 2013
Lenka Ponikelska and Peter Laca. "Prague Blast Probably Caused by Gas Injures 35" — bloomberg.com, April 29, 2013

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License