An explosion at a chain home improvement store in northeastern Romania on Friday injured at least 13 people, including four seriously, authorities said.
Emergency teams dispatched a mobile intensive care unit to the scene in the town of Botosani, in Suceava county.
Four of the injured are in serious condition and two are intubated, while 10 were conscious but suffered “various traumas and burns” and are receiving medical attention.
Emergency helicopters were alerted, and two ambulances and two fire trucks were sent to the scene to extinguish a fire, and search and rescue mission was soon underway inside the store.
It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, nor whether the injured were customers or staff members.
Two of the victims in serious condition will be transported to a hospital in the city of Iasi, about 110 kilometres to the south, while two will be airlifted to the capital, Bucharest, to receive faster medical care, according to the ministry of health.
Botoșani's mayor Cosmin Andrei told Romanian channel Antena 3 that the cause of the explosion may have come from the gas supply to the store.
Video footage shared by the emergency teams which was aired on TV channels showed part of the building’s facade had been blown out by the explosion, with air-conditioning units strewn across the area in front of the store amid a blanket of debris.
