Sixteen people were injured, including four seriously, in an explosion that ravaged a building in Gothenburg early Tuesday (September 28), Swedish authorities said, according to which initial evidence suggests that the origin is not accidental.
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According to images released in local media, thick white smoke continued to billow from the building on Tuesday morning, as ambulances, fire trucks and rescue teams flooded the area.
The cause of the explosion, which ignited a fire shortly before 5 a.m. (3 a.m. GMT) in central Gothenburg, however, is not yet known, police told AFP.
An explosive device involved?
“
The site has been cordoned off and relief operations are underway,
” said Hans-Jörgen Östler, spokesperson for the regional police.
"
As soon as the site is secure, we will start a technical investigation to determine the cause of the fire and explosion,
" he added.
According to police sources quoted by the local GP newspaper, an explosive device may have been placed in front of one of the entrance gates.
Reached by AFP, the head of relief operations, John Pile, stressed that "
an explosion in a residential area, or an explosion in general, is generally not of natural origin
", especially that the building is not supplied with gas.
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Sixteen people suffering from injuries related to the explosion and the fire that followed were transported to Gothenburg University Hospital, according to the institution's spokesperson, Ingrid Fredriksson.
Among them, three women and a man were seriously injured.
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