Six killed, 55 injured in shopping mall blast in Finland

VANTAA, Finland (AP) - An explosion in a busy shopping mall Friday killed six people and injured 55 Friday after part of the building collapsed.

Police were not ruling out the possibility of a bomb.

Police initially said they suspected the blast was caused by exploding gas cylinders used by shops at the mall in Vantaa, a suburb 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki.

But Jyrki Karjalainen, director of City Con which manages the mall, said there normally should not have been any gas cylinders or containers in the building.

Victims of the blast were taken to several hospitals in the region.

"This is the most serious accident since World War II in (the) Helsinki (region),'' said Eero Hirvensalo, a physician at Helsinki University Central Hospital, adding that 12 of the casualties were seriously injured.

Police bomb squads with sniffer dogs were surveying the area, which was expected to be cordoned off for several days.

"We are talking to lots of people, and we are not ruling out anything at the moment,'' Deputy Chief Inspector Seppo Kujala of the Vantaa police said at the scene when asked if a bomb could have caused the blast.

He said no one had been detained.

The explosion occurred near a spiral staircase between the second and third floors of the glass-covered three-story Myyrmanni shopping mall, which was packed with up to 2,000 shoppers at the time of the blast, officials said.

Kujala said they found "lots of metal debris'' at the site, but would not speculate if it was part of an explosive.

"There was a terrible explosion. My ears were completely blocked up,'' said bystander Orvokki Neuvonen. "Glass fell down from the third floor and children and parents were in total panic when they saw the injured people.''

"Children were weeping and screaming in panic. Mothers were screaming. Among the shattered glass were injured and unconscious people,'' she said. - AP

For latest news from The Wire click here