Seven Killed, 40 Injured In Tlemcen University Gas blast

A powerful gas blast at a university canteen in western Algeria killed seven students and left 40 others injured some of them critically, local news outlets reported.

• The hapless students were eating dinner at a Tlemcen university, 520 kilometers southwest of the capital Algiers when the huge gas explosion occurred.
• The head of the area’s university works department said that gas had accumulated in the basement of the building following a leak. The explosion also caused extensive material damage.
• The “Bakhti Abdelmajid University” of Tlemcen where the ill-fated accident took place is reported by local sources to be in a dilapidated state.