RIGA, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Five people lost their lives in an explosion that ripped apart a private two-story house in Latvia's seaside town Saulkrasti on Thursday night, a fire service spokesperson told public radio on Friday.
Inta Palkavniece, the representative of the State Fire and Rescue Service, said a powerful blast ruined a house, and a series of successive explosions was still continuing in the collapsed and burning building. Rescuers rushed to the scene to search for people inside the house and extinguish the fire.
Bodies of five people were found in the ruins during the rescue works which were completed on Friday morning.
Officers of the armed forces and police were also involved in the rescue works because of suspicions that there might be explosives in the house. An investigation is under way to establish what caused the deadly blast.
Streets in the area were closed to traffic for some time, but people were not evacuated from nearby houses as the debris flying from the burning building did not pose any real threats to the area.
According to unconfirmed reports aired by Latvian public television, the first blast was probably caused by a defective boiler. They said there had been a stash of fireworks in the house.
An investigation is under way.
