Swedish police probe starts after blast hits building in Gothenburg

Numerous people were injured, several of them seriously, in a powerful explosion followed by a fire in the Swedish city of Gothenburg on Tuesday.

According to the police, the explosion occurred early on Tuesday morning in an apartment building in the city's Annedal district.

Afterwards, fires broke out in the building forcing some residents to escape through their windows and balconies.

Police said that 20 people were taken to hospital, while emergency crews at the scene said six people had been severely injured.

Meanwhile, the TT news agency reported that there were at least 16 people at one nearby hospital, four of them seriously injured.

Hundreds of other people had to be evacuated, some through building windows, as emergency crews responded to the incident.

Interior courtyard

An SVT reporter, quoting fire crews, said the blast occurred in an interior courtyard.

The cause of the accident remains unknown, though a police spokesperson said that authorities do not believe the blast had a natural origin. A police investigation has begun.

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven offered his condolences to those affected. "Gothenburg should feel that it has the support of the whole country," he said at a press conference in Stockholm on Tuesday afternoon.

Lofven did not want to join in speculation that the incident could have been linked to organized crime.