One person was killed and 37 others were injured in an explosion at a nightclub in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku on Sunday, the South Caucasus country’s prosecutor’s office said.
“One person – Maia Akhoundova, an employee of this establishment, 43 years old – was killed”, indicated the Public Prosecutor’s Office, quoted by the Russian public news agency RIA Novosti.
“Thirty-seven other people were injured, four of whom are in serious condition,” he said.
According to medical sources cited by the agency, an Italian national and a Senegalese citizen are among the injured.
The explosion occurred at 3 a.m. local time on Sunday. It was caused by a leak from a balloon of liquefied gas stored in the nightclub, according to the Azerbaijani gas company Azerigas.
A fire caused by the explosion was extinguished, and search and rescue operations launched at the scene were completed on Sunday morning, according to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations.