A strong explosion has rocked an apartment block in the Swedish city of Linköping. The explosion occurred about 9 o’clock local time. About 20 ambulances have been summonned to the site of explosion in an apartment area at Hamngatan.
“We started to get a large number of calls from people about a heavy explosion in central Linköping, on Hamngatan. Windows have been blown away, and we are in place to secure the site. We have blocked the area and are working on getting a picture of exactly what has happened”, Björn Öberg of the Linköping police told Aftonbladet.
The windows in a five-storey house were blown off by the explosion.
Despite the huge damage to the house, the police reported minor personal injuries. According to SOS Alarm, one person has been taken to hospital in an ambulance. Another 16 people are waiting on the spot.
“I was standing in the shower when I noticed that the whole house was shaking. It rumbled like thunder”, witness Pontus Johansson, living in the house across, told the newspaper.
85-year-old Gösta Sundin, who lives on the ground floor of the house, said that he heard a huge blow at 9 o’clock.
“The whole house shook”, he told Aftonbladet.
80-year-old Hillevi Ljunggren, who has lived in the house with her husband for 30 years, is currently holiday but was called by her son who told her that the explosion was heard at about seven kilometers’ distance “Oh, how awful,” Ljunggren reacted.