An explosion in a Swedish second-largest city scared citizens today at 5 am local time. Over 20 people have been reportedly taken to the hospital, some of them seriously injured after the accident in the Annadel district in central Gothenburg. Also, a major evacuation was ordered from the building with over a hundred residents taken to safety.
Around 50 firefighters from seven nearby stations were deployed to the scene and people in the area were warned to close their windows and stay inside due to the heavy smoke. The cause of the explosion has not yet been identified.
“We will wait until the rescue service assesses it safely on the spot. Then we will perform a technical investigation to determine what caused the explosion,” police spokesman Hans-Jörgen Ostler commented.
After the initial explosion, fires broke out in several buildings.
“Hundreds have been evacuated, people have also jumped out of windows and landed in the courtyard”, the operations manager at the rescue service, Jon Pile, told national broadcaster SVT.
As Reuters reports, local police don’t believe the explosion could be caused by natural reasons.
“We believe something has exploded that is not of natural causes,” Police spokesperson Thomas Fuxborg told adding that something had ‘probably’ been placed at the site of the explosion.
Forsided, 28.09.2021
Source: Sputnik