KIEV - AT LEAST 26 people were killed after a blast ripped through an apartment block in Ukraine's Black Sea town of Yevpatoria, according to a new toll released by the government on Friday.
A further 21 people have been rescued from the rubble, five of whom were now being treated in the hospital, an official from the ministry for emergency situations told AFP.
The toll on Thursday had been 22 dead.
Officials said the number of fatalities could still rise further as more people are feared trapped in the wreckage after the blast on Wednesday night.
'Search efforts are continuing,' one said.
The government has said that the accident - which completely destroyed two sections of the apartment block - was likely caused by an explosion of oxygen or acetylene cylinders stored in the building's basement.
Explosions in ageing and poorly maintained Soviet-era apartment buildings, usually caused by gas, are not unusual in Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. -- AFP
