Explosions occur near Ivano-Frankivsk railway station: fatalities reported
Pravda Ukraine
People are reported to have been injured and killed following explosions near a railway station in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine’s west on the evening of 11 March.
Source: Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne; Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia); Halka, an Ivano-Frankivsk local news outlet; Svitlana Onyshchuk, Head of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Military Administration
Quote: “There has been an explosion near a railway station in Ivano-Frankivsk. Police and emergency workers are at the scene.”
Details: Ukrzaliznytsia said the explosions in Ivano-Frankivsk had happened outside the railway station. The explosion could be heard at the station, but no passengers or staff were injured. Trains are running on schedule.
Local media outlet Halka reports that the explosions are believed to have occurred under and inside an apartment block. A man in the street was killed. Another man has lost both legs and doctors are battling to save his life.
Update: Onyshchuk said there were several explosions. Casualties have been reported. One of the explosions caused a fire to break out on the roof of an apartment block which is being extinguished by firefighters.
Suspilne later reported, citing the police, that three people had been injured in two explosions in Ivano-Frankivsk.
The city’s mayor has confirmed that there were fatalities near the railway station as a result of the explosions, with explosives presumed to have been involved. Another explosion occurred in a nearby apartment, causing a fire to break out.
Later, emergency workers provided further details, saying that an unidentified object had exploded near a residential building on Pryvokzalna Street in Ivano-Frankivsk on the evening of 11 March. One person has reportedly been killed and three others injured.
Emergency workers took those injured in the incident to ambulances.
Shortly afterwards, a fire covering an area of 400 sq m broke out on the roof of a nine-storey apartment block on Zaliznychna Street. Early reports suggest the fire was caused by an explosion on the attic floor. Emergency workers evacuated 15 residents from this section of the building and four people were rescued. The fire has since been extinguished.
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