A powerful explosion ripped through a boiler house in a residential district of Atyrau, destroying an annex, shattering windows in a neighboring apartment block and injuring one person, the website infohub.kz reports.
Shards of glass and chunks of brick were scattered for dozens of meters around the scene. Local residents described what happened.
"I was just standing there in the morning making coffee. Then I heard a sound that made my head... and I felt glass flying at me. Thank goodness the blinds and the flowers were there. Otherwise all the glass would have flown right at me," recalled Yulia Polyushko.
The five-story building stands just dozens of meters from the boiler house. Residents said they were genuinely shocked and at first could not understand what had happened.
"It was around 9:15 and my children were still asleep. First it felt like something was shaking, then there was a loud bang and the smell of gas. At first I didn't even realize. The tiles came off in the bathroom, the windows were blown out, the mosquito net flew away," said local resident Zhazira Zhardemova.
Windows will have to be replaced in 19 apartments, according to reports. Two cars parked nearby were also damaged. One person was injured — a boiler house worker with serious injuries was taken to hospital.
"A 53-year-old man. Diagnosis: combined injuries, burns to the face and upper limbs, and a severe open traumatic brain injury. He is in the neurosurgery department. His condition is serious," said Yerkin Yerbulekov, head of the neurosurgery department at the Atyrau regional hospital.
Rescuers and police are now investigating the cause of the emergency. The owner of the shopping center said he would fully compensate for all the damage caused.
Recall that yesterday morning in the Avangard-2 microdistrict of Atyrau, a gas-air mixture exploded in a boiler house attached to a three-story building. One person was injured. Doctors later commented on the injured man's condition.