Explosion damages apartments in Bulgaria

SOFIA - A dozen apartments were damaged after a power substation exploded in a residential block in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas on Tuesday, officials said.

The transformer, located in the basement of the block, exploded in the early morning, according to Dimitar Nikolov, mayor of Burgas.

There were no casualties because before the incident, the residents of the 32 apartments in the building heard a loud hum and managed to escape, local media reported.

So far there has been no such incident in the history of the local electricity supplier company EVN, the head of its Communications department Petar Kostadinov told reporters.

The cause of the accident is not yet clear, he said.

Transformers in Bulgaria are usually located outside the residential buildings, but the law does not prohibit their installation inside.