1 dead, 25 hurt in Berlin explosion

BERLIN, Germany — One person was killed and around 25 injured in an explosion at an apartment block in eastern Germany on Friday, according to police.

Debris from the blast in the town of Blankenburg flew up to 60 meters and some people were seriously hurt, police spokesman Uwe Becker told n-tv television.

Other people were being evacuated from the five-story block, which contains 60 apartments.

Becker said that he couldn’t rule out a gas explosion as the cause of the blast just before 9 a.m., and didn’t at present have any other likely explanation.

The building is on the edge of Blankenburg, a town of about 20,000 people in the Harz mountains, west of Berlin.

About 100 children at a nearby day care center were taken to other facilities.