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Blast wrecks Ukrainian hospital | Blast wrecks Ukrainian hospital |
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An explosion in eastern Ukraine has partly demolished a hospital, killing at least five people and injuring several others, officials say. | An explosion in eastern Ukraine has partly demolished a hospital, killing at least five people and injuring several others, officials say. |
A number of oxygen tanks exploded in a ward of the Lugansk hospital, causing at least two floors to collapse. | A number of oxygen tanks exploded in a ward of the Lugansk hospital, causing at least two floors to collapse. |
"Five people have died and three have been were rescued from under the rubble," said a ministry spokesman. | "Five people have died and three have been were rescued from under the rubble," said a ministry spokesman. |
The health ministry said more than 600 people were in the hospital at the time of the blast, AFP news agency reported. | The health ministry said more than 600 people were in the hospital at the time of the blast, AFP news agency reported. |
Ukraine has set up an extraordinary commission to investigate the circumstances of the explosion, local media reported. | |
Casualties caused by explosions in often crumbling buildings in former Soviet states are relatively common, analysts say - though often they are caused by gas for heating, rather than oxygen. | |
One such blast in December 2008 killed 27 people when it partially destroyed a block of flats in the Ukrainian Black Sea town of Yevpatoria. | |
Ukraine's prime minister - and would-be president - Yulia Tymoshenko was flying to Lugansk on Monday to oversee the rescue operation. | |
Mrs Tymoshenko will face former PM Viktor Yanukovych in a run-off vote on 7 February after she came second in Sunday's first round of voting. |