Kiev, Friday 26 December 2008: Ukraine on Friday observed a day of national mourning for the 27 people killed in a suspected oxygen canister explosion that partially destroyed an apartment block in the Black Sea town of Yevpatoria.

Flags flew at half-mast outside government buildings, and entertainment programmes were canceled on television channels and radio stations.

President Viktor Yushchenko, whose venomous row with his Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko appears to have been put on ice in the aftermath of the tragedy, had declared the national mourning the day earlier.

Twenty-seven bodies had been found and 26 of them identified, said the head of the regional branch of the Ukrainian emergencies ministry, Olexander Mazilin, according to the sources.

He said that the dead included some entire families, including one of five people. Five of the wounded were hospitalised for treatment, including one in serious condition.

“These people cannot be left alone in their tragedy. They need humanitarian help,” said top Yushchenko aide Roman Bessmertny.

Rescuers, who had worked through the night, were now clearing away debris from what had been the basement and the probability of finding more survivors or more corpses were slim, Mazilin said.

It is not known how many people were in the building when the explosion went off.
(Agency)