Blast in Ukrainian hospital: 3 dead, 17 missing

A view taken inside the hospital destroyed as a result of blast in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk yesterday.

Gas canisters exploded in a Ukrainian hospital yesterday causing the collapse of several floors of the building that killed three people and left 17 missing, officials said.
The blast left a gaping hole in the wall of the hospital in the eastern city of Lugansk, 800 kilometres (500 miles) east of Kiev. Rescuers heard voices coming from the rubble.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko blamed lax safety rules for the explosion of oxygen bottles in the intensive care unit of Lugansk’s hospital number seven.
“Several floors of the hospital collapsed,” said a statement released by Tymoshenko’s office, adding that the prime minister, who is in the midst of a heated presidential election battle, was heading to the scene.
“Three people were saved and three bodies were pulled from the rubble,” the emergency situations ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that 261 patients and 350 medical staff were in the hospital at the time of the explosion, and that people from undamaged parts of the building had been evacuated.
“The fate of 17 people remains unknown,” Olexander Efremov, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, told reporters at the scene after attending an emergency meeting on the rescue efforts.
“One can hear voices under the rubble, so the search is continuing,” Yefremov said, adding that the survivors could be trapped in a room on the first floor.