Six killed in shopping mall blast

Six people were killed and 55 injured last night in an explosion at a packed shopping mall in Finland that caused part of the building to collapse.

Police believe a bomb may have caused the blast.

Officers initially suspected the explosion was caused by gas cylinders used by shops at the mall in Vantaa, a suburb nine 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 Two in Helsinki,” said Eero Hirvensalo, a physician at Helsinki University Central Hospital, adding that 12 were severely 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.