17 dead in Ukraine apartment blast

An explosion tore through a block of flats in southern Ukraine, killing at least 17 people and leaving dozens more trapped under the rubble, emergency officials said today.

Up to 700 rescuers were searching for survivors in the wreckage of the collapsed five-storey building in the Crimea peninsula resort of Yevpatoriya after a blast yesterday caused by a suspected gas leak, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.