Blankenburg blast: One killed, dozens injured as residents evacuated

One person was killed and dozens were injured in an explosion in an apartment block in Germany on Friday, police said, according to local media.

The blast, whose cause police said was not yet known, occurred in the eastern city of Blankenburg. Residents, including children at a nearby kindergarten, were evacuated, and the area where the explosion occurred was sealed off, police said. None of the children were hurt, police tweeted.

Police said 25 people had been injured. Local broadcaster MDR quoted police as saying one person had died and one other was missing. A photo tweeted by police showed a five-story communist-era residential block with smoke rising from blackened windows on the second floor.

(With inputs from agencies.)