Five People Killed in Gas Explosion in Brazil

Five People Killed in Gas Explosion in Brazil

News Update, Rio de Janeiro - A gas explosion occurred at an apartment complex in the north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This incident left five people dead and 13 people injured.

Quoted by news agency AFP on Tuesday (05/04/2016) the incident occurred at 05:00 (0800 GMT) local time. Civil defense officials suspect the blast occurred on a gas leak.

Before the explosion, the residents who live in apartments complained about the smell of gas for more than a year. From images taken by Globo News Television, local media, indicating a blast making the drain plug got thrown off the sidewalk outside the building and then smashing the building.

Injured were rushed to hospital. The apartment building where the explosion Fazenda is located in Botafogo, a complex of 86 buildings inhabited by about 17 thousand residents near a main road leading to downtown Rio.

Party state-owned gas company of Brazil, CEG, said it was too early to say what caused the explosion.

"We will investigate complaints from residents who said that had no smell of gas for more than a year," said a spokesman for CEG, Cristiane Delart, Tuesday (04/05/2016).

Delart said the company's technicians have been conducting inspections in response to complaints from residents. But did not find problems related to the gas odor.(N/U)