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Blast rocks sports center in Belgium’s Chimay, casualties reported 1 person killed after suspected gas explosion rocks Belgian sports center
(about 7 hours later)
A powerful explosion went off at a sports facility in the Belgian city of Chimay, partially destroying the building and burying at least five people under the rubble. One person has reportedly been killed and four more treated for injuries. One person was killed and at least four were injured in a powerful explosion at a sports center in Belgium. It is believed that a gas leak caused the blast and there is no indication that it was a terrorist attack, according to Belgium’s crisis center.
At least one person was killed after the building collapsed, Belga News Agency reported citing emergency services spokesperson. The incident took place around midnight (22:00GMT) at le Chalon sports center in the city of Chimay, which is near the French border. Five people were in the building at the time of the explosion, according to local media. 
The blast reportedly struck the sports center and a pool located on the Rue de Chalon just after midnight. “It is probably a gas explosion,” an official at the Belgium Crisis Center told Reuters, while adding that there was no indication that it had been a terrorist attack.
The explosion took place in a storage room of the center, RTL reported, citing a rescue worker. “A man in his 40s was killed,” said emergency services spokesman Michel Mean, who also reported that two people in a critical condition with severe burns have been taken to separate hospitals, according to RTBF. 
Five people were inside the building at the time of the blast, RTL reported. Two of them were seriously injured and taken to hospitals for treatment. The other two received minor injuries and were taken to the local health center. Two other people in the building at the time of the blast only suffered minor injuries. RTBF reports that the five people in the center were part of a running club.
The cause of the blast was not immediately clear, but authorities do not believe the incident to be terror-related. The explosion took place in a storage room, RTL reported, citing a rescue worker. While part of the two-story building was destroyed, the damage is not as bad as initially feared.
“We are not 100% sure, but, most likely, we are dealing with a gas explosion due to a suicide. There are no other explanations,” a crisis center spokesperson told RIA Novosti. “The building is not supplied by the main gas pipes,” Mean noted, according to RTBF. “Bottles were found on site, but we do not have [enough] evidence at the moment to say what caused the accident.”
Photos appearing to show the aftermath of the explosion have surfaced on the social media. Half of the building has crumbled as seen on the photo posted by Vince Crate, a local resident. Police have sealed off the area and the city’s mayor, Françoise Fassiaux-Looten, is overseeing the operation. 
Footage from the scene shows a heavy police presence. A municipal emergency has been declared, HNL reported. Belgium has been on high alert since a spate of terrorist attacks in recent months.
The police have sealed off the scene. The mayor of the town, Françoise Fassiaux-Looten, has been overseeing the operation. Two female officers were injured earlier in August when they were attacked by a machete-wielding man near a police station in the Belgian city of Charleroi, which is around 40 kilometers north of Chimay. 
Chimay is a small city with a population of some 10,000 people located close to the French border, 89 kilometers south of the Belgium’s capital, Brussels. The perpetrator, who could be heard shouting “Allahu Akbar,” was shot by a third officer at the site  of the attack and later died of his wounds in the hospital. 
DETAILS TO FOLLOW Meanwhile, 32 people died in Brussels in March when suicide bombers blew themselves up at the city’s airport and in a metro station.