A suspected gas leak blew up an apartment building in the Belgian city of Liege, killing one person and possibly trapping other residents under rubble, officials said today.
A girl aged between 10 and 12 was rescued from the remains of the destroyed building hours after the early morning explosion and emergency workers later found a body in the ruins.
"There are still three people missing although we cannot be certain that they were in the building," a police spokeswoman said.
The explosion occurred shortly before 2am (1am Irish time), damaging a number of buildings and shattering windows in a street in the centre of the eastern Belgian city.
The front of one five-storey building collapsed into the street. Altogether 23 people were injured, two of them seriously, police and local officials said.
Officials said the explosion appeared to have been caused by a gas leak.
Reuters