Building Explosion in Prague Injures Dozens

Emergency officials in Prague said a powerful explosion that damaged an office building in Czech’s capital has injured dozens of people (at least 40), and most likely trapped several others in the rubble.

According to police spokesman Tomas Hulan, the incident may have been caused by a natural gas explosion, shattering windows around the neighborhood on Monday.

Czech student Vaclav Rokyta told AP that there was glass everywhere, and people shouting and crying at the scene.

Although, it wasn’t clear how many people are trapped in the building, rescuers and paramedics were at the scene to tend to the injured, while the police have sealed the street and evacuated people from nearby buildings.

Business Editor of the Lidove Noviny newspaper, Frantiske Bouc, told Al Jazeera that people were ‘‘scared and shocked’’, adding that Prague “is not used to explosions”.

According witnesses’ account of the incident, they could smell gas in the street. The blast blew windows in Café Slavia, a Pargue landmark, and was heard as far as Prague Castle about 1.6km away across the Vltava River.

Prime Minister Petr Necas said in a statement he was “deeply hit by the tragedy.”