8 injured in Chicago apartment building explosion
Chicago (PTI): Eight people were rushed to hospitals after being injured when an explosion Tuesday tore through the top floor of a Chicago apartment building, officials said.
The explosion at the 36-unit, four-story apartment building in the South Austin neighbourhood occurred at about 9 am on Tuesday.
Chicago Fire Department Deputy Chief Marc Ferman told reporters a few hours later that the department had finished searching for potential victims and was confident that nobody remained trapped inside the building, of which much of the top floor had collapsed.
He said, “Technical crews had shored up the upper floors to allow firefighters to search to make sure we didn't leave any victims underneath any of the debris.”
The cause of the blast had not yet been determined.
Seven of the injured were in the building on the city's West Side, when the explosion occurred, and one apparently was in a building across the street, Ferman said. Three of the people who were hurt had serious to critical injuries, the department said.
Photographs and video posted on the Chicago Fire Department's Twitter page showed that much of the top floor was destroyed. Scores of bricks and other debris had fallen onto the street, crushing at least one car and seriously damaging two others.
Several residents said they were home when the explosion rocked the building.
“I was asleep, and all of a sudden there was a loud booming,” said Lawrence Lewis, who was asleep at the time, told WGN television. “I woke up to my windows gone, my front door blown open. I just saw smoke, and I ran out of the house. I was asleep. I'm shook up right now.”
Otis Maning, who lives across the street, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was on his couch watching television, “When all of a sudden I hear, 'Boom! My heart almost shot out of my body...I saw windows busted open, I saw debris," he added.
Chicago police bomb squad and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to the explosion.
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Explosions rock Central Dubai, no injuries reported say authorities
Dubai: Buildings in central Dubai shook after loud explosions were heard and a thick cloud of smoke was seen rising over the city’s financial district on Friday. Authorities confirmed that that no injuries were reported.
An AFP correspondent reported hearing a loud double blast that rattled nearby structures and left a large plume of black smoke hanging over a central area. Sirens were later heard from the direction of Sheikh Zayed Road which is one of the city’s main thoroughfares.
In a statement posted on X, the Dubai Media Office said debris from a “successful interception” caused a minor incident on the facade of a building in central Dubai. “No injuries have been reported,” it said.
According to reports the incident occurred in the Dubai International Financial Centre and the building sustained damage. Police have cordoned off the area following the blasts.
A day earlier, authorities had reported a “minor drone incident” in the Al Bada’a area after explosions were heard in downtown Dubai. Officials had then stated that there were no injuries.
