At least 16 people were killed in Syria on Sunday after a scrap dealer mishandled an old bomb, causing a massive explosion, officials said.
An explosion destroyed a four-story building in the city of Latakia on Saturday. Rescue workers pulled bodies, including five children, from the rubble overnight and the search for survivors continues.
Syria's civil defense team said 16 people were killed in an explosion at a hardware store in a block of flats.
“Search and rescue efforts continue to rescue those trapped,” it said in a post on Telegram, adding that at least 18 people were injured. It was reported that the explosion occurred when a scrap dealer mishandled unexploded ordnance while trying to salvage the metal.
Images from Syria's Sana news agency showed a column of smoke rising from Latakia's crowded southern neighbourhood of Al Rimal and a pile of rubble where the building once stood.
The news agency reported that a scrap dealer was handling the unexploded ordnance in an attempt to salvage the metal.
The British-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also described the explosion as an "accident".
