An explosion in a nine-storey building in Luhansk has killed a man, Channel 5 reported. www.mns.gov.ua An explosion in a nine-storey building in Luhansk has killed a man, Channel 5 reported.

Household gas is believed to have exploded in one of the apartments on the last floor of the residential house around 0130 on Feb. 9.

"A body of a man, 1987, was found on the ground near the building. The man was in the apartment, when the blast took place. According to preliminary information, he was thrown out by a blast wave," the Emergencies Ministry's statement reads.

The explosion destroyed the apartment's internal walls and damaged the separation walls. There is a threat of the last floor's bearing structures collapse.

Around seventy residents were evacuated from the adjacent flats.

The Emergencies Ministry's brigades, municipal rescue service and emergency teams of municipal gas, water and electricity services are operating at the scene.