Advertisement
UK markets close in 4 hours 43 minutes
  • FTSE 100

    8,090.72
    +50.34 (+0.63%)
     
  • FTSE 250

    19,702.71
    -16.66 (-0.08%)
     
  • AIM

    755.19
    +0.50 (+0.07%)
     
  • GBP/EUR

    1.1665
    +0.0021 (+0.18%)
     
  • GBP/USD

    1.2514
    +0.0051 (+0.41%)
     
  • Bitcoin GBP

    50,766.11
    -2,260.11 (-4.26%)
     
  • CMC Crypto 200

    1,348.96
    -33.61 (-2.43%)
     
  • S&P 500

    5,071.63
    +1.08 (+0.02%)
     
  • DOW

    38,460.92
    -42.77 (-0.11%)
     
  • CRUDE OIL

    82.85
    +0.04 (+0.05%)
     
  • GOLD FUTURES

    2,337.90
    -0.50 (-0.02%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    37,628.48
    -831.60 (-2.16%)
     
  • HANG SENG

    17,284.54
    +83.27 (+0.48%)
     
  • DAX

    17,974.18
    -114.52 (-0.63%)
     
  • CAC 40

    8,027.40
    -64.46 (-0.80%)
     

One dead and several injured after an explosion rocks a sports centre in Belgium

Police inspectors survey the scene of a blast at a sports complex in Chimay, Belgium, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016.
Police inspectors survey the scene of a blast at a sports complex in Chimay, Belgium, Friday, Aug. 26, 2016.

(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

One person was killed and four other people were injured after an explosion rocked a sports centre in the Belgian city of Chimay shortly after midnight local time on Friday, according to the Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française, or RTBF.

Two of the four injured people suffered severe burns and were transferred to local hospitals. The other two were just slightly injured and treated at a local medical centre, the RTBF reports.

The explosion damaged the building, located on Rue de Chalon.

The official cause of the explosion is still unknown, but an official with Belgium's Crisis Center said "the information that I have is that it due to an accident, probably gas," according to the Associated Press, adding that there was no indication that it was a terrorist attack.

ADVERTISEMENT

A municipal stage of emergency has been activated and the police have sealed off the scene, Françoise Fassiaux-Looten, the town's mayor, said.

"Every Thursday, a football game is held at the sports centre. It was exceptionally cancelled today. The toll could have been much worse," Fassiaux-Looten told RTBF reporters.

Map of Chimay, Belgium
Map of Chimay, Belgium

(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)"The building is not supplied with gas by the city," the mayor said. "Gas bottles were found at the site, but for now, we do not have evidence to determine the cause of the accident."

Charleroi's prosecutor's office has dispatched an expert to the scene to help determine the cause of the fire. The surroundings of the building are still sealed off as the stability has yet to be verified.

Chimay is located in the province of Hainaut, near the border with France and about 75 miles south of Brussels.

See Also: