Major explosion in Prague

Powerful gas explosion rocks Czech capital: 40 injured

Prague's mayor says terrorism has been ruled out as the cause of a powerful explosion in the city center on April 29

Radio Free Europe,

29 April, 2013

Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda told reporters that the explosion was the result of a natural-gas leak that ignited.

At least 35 people were injured in the blast, which occurred near the National Theater in the Czech capital, not far from the Vltava River, in a building that officials said sits between the Charles University's sociology faculty and the film and TV school of the Academy of Performing Arts (FAMU).

Rescue workers said they were searching for three missing people who may still be buried beneath the rubble of the damaged building. But Svoboda said sniffer dogs were unable to find anyone.

The explosion shattered the windows of nearby buildings and could be heard a kilometer away.

The debris-strewn street was sealed off to traffic and police evacuated a nearby school out of concern that there could be a second gas explosion from the leak.

The dean of the sociology faculty of Charles University said the building will probably be closed for the remainder of the semester and classes taught elsewhere.