"The owner of that apartment also ran out into the street — completely burned." Details of the emergency situation on Altayskaya in Minsk
The small-family apartment building at Altayskaya, 90/1, does not have the best reputation. Locals say that once every year or two, some emergency incident occurs in the building with over three hundred apartments. But yesterday evening, perhaps, surpassed all previous troubles. An explosion of a gas-air mixture occurred in an apartment located on the first floor.
"As a result of the explosion, the apartment owner suffered burns. A man passing by was injured by a broken window frame, and two parked cars were damaged. Both injured individuals were hospitalized," — this is how the Ministry of Emergency Situations described the incident.
Locating the emergency site is not a problem even today: the shattered window clearly points to the second entrance. Fortunately, the building's structures held up: the slabs are undamaged. There will be no need to relocate residents from that section (as was the case in Homiel), writes Onliner.by.
Judging by the photos from the Ministry of Emergency Situations taken inside the apartment, the explosion did not occur in the kitchen, as one might expect. The "epicenter" was in the living room. It turned out that the man was refilling a lighter with a gas canister and then decided to check if it worked.
From early morning, local utility workers have been dealing with the affected apartment (and the adjacent area): collecting scattered debris and boarding up the window with slabs.
— "Everything happened after 10 PM. I heard something boom, a crack," — recalls Siarhei. — "I went to the window (I live on the fifth floor), looked out: there were already crowds of people. Everyone from the second entrance was evacuated. Then they were let back in about ten minutes later. My wife went to find out what happened. We thought a gas cylinder had exploded (they supposedly kept one)."
I've known these neighbors for a long time, they're a married couple. I can't say anything bad about them.
What could have happened? I don't know. Maybe he was lighting cigarettes from that cylinder. The neighbor is currently in the hospital. They say all his hair burned off.
— "There was a lot of shattered glass. We cleaned up the main part last night," — adds a housing and communal services employee.
Tatsiana lives on the second floor, luckily not above the affected apartment.
— "Around ten past ten in the evening, there was a loud bang. I thought the walls had collapsed. I looked into the corridor: everything was in smoke. I stood for a bit — another bang. Everyone immediately started running out of their apartments. I noticed that on the first floor, even the door was blown out."
The owner of that apartment also ran out into the street — completely burned.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations, ambulance, police, gas workers — we called everyone immediately. The services arrived quickly, checked everything. Then they let us go home. The ambulance took both the owner and the man who was just passing by and got injured. His face was covered in blood.
As far as I know, the gas in that apartment is shut off. What could have caused the explosion? They used gas cylinders. Like for lighting fires. The apartment owner himself said he was lighting cigarettes from a canister.
Why is that? They are antisocial. Look what's in the apartment: more trash than at a landfill. It's an elderly couple, children don't live there.
The theory about the gas cylinder from which the apartment owner was lighting cigarettes was also voiced by another neighbor. With clear disapproval.
Later, from a statement by the Investigative Committee, it became known that the apartment owner was refilling a lighter "using a gas canister not intended for these purposes." After refilling, the man decided to check the lighter's functionality, which resulted in ignition and the subsequent explosion of the gas-air mixture.
Two cars parked near the high-rise building became involuntary participants in the incident. "I didn't see or hear anything myself, although I was home. My windows face the other side. I didn't even suspect something had happened. Around 10:20 PM, I received a call and was told. Apparently, a window frame flew and 'pierced' my car. What will I do? I don't know yet. We'll figure it out," — says another Siarhei, the owner of a Mitsubishi
If not for the boarded-up window, it would have been impossible to guess that something had happened in the high-rise building. The 1982 panel building, fortunately, proved to be durable and stable.
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