BEIRUT, July 3 (Xinhua) -- A security official said on Wednesday that ten people were injured and five were lost after a gas station exploded in Lebanon's northern town of Bakhoun.
The official told Xinhua that the explosion caused the collapse of the two-story building, in which the station occupies the ground floor. The fate of the station's workers remains unknown while some of the wounded people are in critical condition.
Witnesses from the town said that the explosion caused damage to buildings and shops that are close to the explosion's location, which is highly populated.
Witnesses added that dozens of families left their homes in a state of panic with smoke spreading over the town.
Meanwhile, the official told Xinhua that the civil defense extinguished the fire and transferred injured people to hospitals while working on removing the rubble to reach workers who got trapped in the collapsed building.
"Civil defense used loudspeakers calling upon citizens in the town of Bakhoun to donate blood to save the injured people's lives," the official said.
