Rescuers search rubble for victims after blast at Vienna apartment building

An apartment building in Vienna partially collapsed in an explosion on Wednesday, leaving one person with initial life-threatening injuries and others feared buried underneath the rubble, authorities said.

A 35-year-old man who lived in one of the apartments suffered broken bones and internal injuries.

But by midnight, the man's condition had improved significantly and his injuries were no longer life-threatening, Vienna rescue authorities told Austria's APA news agency.

A spokesman for the city's fire brigade told APA that authorities were working to clear a “huge pile of debris”. The focus was on a car that was buried under the rubble and is feared to contain one or two people. Rescue dogs were at the scene.

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The blast collapsed several floors of up to two buildings and is suspected to have been caused by a gas explosion, according to the city police authority.

Two people sustained serious injuries while a dozen others were slightly hurt in the accident, which took place in Vienna's central 4th district, just a few minutes walk from the famous St Charles Church.

Shortly before midnight, three people were still unaccounted for. Police pointed out that this did not necessarily mean that they had been in the building at the time of the blast.

Rescuers were continuing to search the building for possible further victims, a police spokesman said near the scene. Some surrounding buildings had also been damaged and were evacuated.

A video and pictures that were recorded by local witnesses showed a gaping hole in the facade of the apartment block that was built in the early 1950s.