KIEV, May 12 (RIA Novosti) – An explosion in a nine-story apartment building in the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev has started a fire and completely destroyed three floors, the UNN news agency reported Monday.
Five ambulances were on the scene. There was no immediate information on casualties.
The blast occurred on Lazurnaya street in the Zavodskoy district of the city. Three floors were ruined, with wreckage blown as far away as 70 meters (230 feet).
Firefighters and rescue workers were trying to get into the building, but were blocked by collapsed staircases. Witnesses reported smoke billowing out of windows and a fire raging inside the building.
The blast is believed to have been caused by a natural gas leak, but investigators who inspected the gas pipeline could not find evidence of such a leak.
