Eight teenagers between 14 and 20 years old have been injured, two of them in serious condition, after the explosion of a propane gas cylinder this Friday night inside a house in the Belgian city of Lokeren (in the Flanders region). , as reported this Saturday by several local media outlets.
The Belga news agency has detailed that the injured young people were manipulating propane gas in the attic of the house and, according to the East Flanders Prosecutor’s Office, the explosion was caused by an accident whose exact causes are now being investigated.
The two seriously injured have suffered third-degree burns and their vital prognosis still remains uncertain, the Public Ministry has reported.
Both the two seriously injured and the other six slightly injured were transferred to various hospitals and medical centers specialized in burns throughout the region of Flanders, northern Belgium.
According to the Flemish public radio television VRT NWS, the injured teenagers were friends who had gathered in the attic of the house where the explosion occurred, and which caused a loud roar in the neighborhood, located in a residential area on the outskirts of the city of Lokeren.
The mother of one of the teenagers was also in the lower part of the home at the time of the explosion, but was not injured, the same VRT NWS channel detailed.
The house has been declared uninhabitable due to the explosion and subsequent fire.
The propane gas that caused the explosion is used, among other things, as fuel for cooking fires and as a source of energy for boilers, barbecues and portable stoves.