Eight injured in Istanbul gas explosion

ANKARA/ISTANBUL: At least eight people were injured, one critically, in a gas explosion at a packaging workshop in Istanbul on Saturday, city’s police chief Selami Altinok said. The explosion occurred in a five-story building, officials said. “It’s not certain whether one person remains under debris. Rescue teams are searching meticulously,” he told reporters at the blast site.
Gov. Huseyin Avni Mutlu ruled out any terrorist attack and said the blast was caused by a gas leak or a gas canister. The explosion in a packaging workshop on the ground floor of the building caused a fire which was quickly extinguished, the private Dogan news agency reported.
Mutlu’s office said eight people were injured in the blast; one person was in serious condition. A fire-fighter was treated for smoke inhalation, it said.
Hurriyet newspaper and other reports said the injured included a pregnant woman who jumped from a balcony on the second floor of the building. Hurriyet said some cars were overturned by the force of the blast.
The accident was caused by either a gas leak or an exploding gas canister, Istanbul governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said, ruling out the possibility of a terrorist attack.
On Friday, one person died and 36 were injured in a gas explosion at a bakery in the city of Denizli, southwestern Turkey, the disaster management agency said.
It is the second explosion caused by gas in as many days in Turkey. On Friday, a blast in a bakery in the southwestern city of Denizli killed one person and injured 36 others.