Police Arrest Persons Probably Responsible for Deadly Gas Blast

Presov, December 7 (TASR) – The police on Saturday arrested some individuals who seem to be responsible for the gas explosion in a twelve-storey apartment house in Presov on Friday, which claimed the lives of at least seven people, while dozens other people were injured, according to the Fire and Rescue Corps.

The city authority in the meantime retracted its earlier report that the blast killed nine people. According to the Fire and Rescue Corps, the death toll on Saturday was still seven, while one person from the most damaged top storey was missing. Nonetheless, there was little hope that this person survived the blast and the subsequent fire.

“[The explosion] was certainly linked to reconstruction work on the gas lines,” said director of the regional fire department Jan Golias.

“Fire inspectors didn’t consent to the reconstruction work in the apartment block in 2017. Some norms were violated and this could have caused the collapse of the staircase, which prevented us from evacuating people this way,” said Golias.

The building doesn’t seem to become inhabitable any more. “We’ll need to tear down at least one floor, as it poses danger to other floors, and we’ll see how many other floors will also be necessary to be removed,” said Golias.
A total of 96 people were living in the damaged apartment building, but the authorities evacuated as many as 220 people, also from neighbouring blocks.