Gas tank explosion kills 4 in North Macedonia

By KONSTANTIN TESTORIDES

SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) — Four people, including three children, were killed and six other members of the same family were seriously injured when a gas tank for cooking exploded in their home Sunday in northern Macedonia, authorities said.

Police said that the three children, an 8-year-old boy and girls ages 9 and 11, died instantly when the gas tank exploded in the living room of a family house in the village of Romanovce. Firefighters later extinguished the blaze.

A 58-year-old man died late Sunday at a Skopje clinic, the clinic’s head of the intensive care unit told local media.

Local media later reported that the gas tank exploded while the Albanian-minority family was preparing breakfast.

The six surviving injured include four women, one of whom is pregnant, and a 10-year-old boy.

Two women, aged 30 and 50, a man and the 10-year-old boy, are still in critical condition, the intensive care unit head, Ilir Hasani, told local media.

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A previous version of this story was corrected to show that the gas tank was used for cooking, not heating.