SOFIA: A series of blasts at six fireworks warehouses near Bulgaria’s capital Sofia killed one person and severely injured another, the interior minister said today, while two people were missing.
The blasts in the town of Elin Pelin just outside Sofia set off a major alert with authorities evacuating 150 people.
Television images showed a long series of explosions at six warehouses and clouds of smoke rising hours after the initial blast on Thursday evening, whose cause was not yet clear.
Interior minister Kalin Stoyanov said a 49-year-old man had died after being hospitalised with severe burns and injuries from smoke inhalation.
Doctors were fighting to save his 20-year-old daughter, who suffered burns covering more than 85% of her body, but the chances were slim, he added.
Two men, aged 60 and 22, were also inside the warehouse at the time of the explosions and remained missing, he said.