BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — An explosion at a chain home improvement store in northeastern Romania on Friday injured at least 13 people, one seriously, authorities said.
A mobile intensive care unit was dispatched to the scene in the town of Botosani, in Suceava county, emergency authorities said. One of the injured is in a serious condition and is intubated, while 10 are 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. A search and rescue mission meanwhile was underway inside the store. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, nor whether the injured were customers or staff members.
Video footage shared by the emergency authorities showed part of the building’s facade had been blown out by the explosion, with air-conditioning units strewn out across the store’s forecourt amid a blanket of debris.