MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - The pyrotechnics warehouse explosion in Oryol has injured 17 people and killed two, the Oryol region department of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said on Thursday evening.
"In all, the explosion hurt 19 people, two of them fatally. The second victim is being identified," the report said.
The injured were taken to Oryol hospitals, it said.
The rescuers said the fire broke out in a privately owned warehouse storing pyrotechnic devices and spread onto adjacent buildings. According to the latest reports, eleven structures were damaged, among them five residencies, one of them an apartment block.
The fire has been put out by now.
Stanislav Rybakov, press secretary of the Oryol region governor, said that the shop owner had won a municipal contract for May 9 fireworks.
In the words of Rybakov, the size of compensations to be paid to the injured will be determined on Friday.