Blast takes place in canteen in centre of Moldovan capital

Chisinau, 9 January /MOLDPRES/ - An explosion took place in a canteen at the crossroads of the Bulgara street and Stefan cel Mare boulevard of Chisinau on 9 January. 

The press officer of the Civil Protection and Emergency Situations Service, Diana Turcanu, has told MOLDPRES that the blast had occurred at about 13:00 at the second floor of a building on the territory of the Central Market. Three teams of firemen, who extinguished the fire in 15 minutes, were mobilised on the spot. The flames hit about 30 square metres of the room.

The spokesman for the Emergency Medicine Institute, Petru Cravet, said that about 20 people had suffered in the wake of the fire, among which children, who got injuries and arsons. ''A 35-year-old woman was put in the reanimation department of the Emergency Hospital in a serious condition, while the other persons were hospitalised at the burn centre,'' Cravet said.

According to the police, the fire was triggered by a gas cylinder, set inside the canteen.

Law-enforcers are to establish all circumstances of the explosion.

(Reporter Petru Beregoi, editor A. Raileanu)