The 2008 Yevpatoria gas explosion took place on December 25, 2008 with an explosion in an apartment block in Yevpatoria, a Ukrainian

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 resort town. Within hours, the death toll stood at 22 with 10 missing. On December 26 the total number of deaths was 27 people. President

President of Ukraine

Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...

 Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Yushchenko

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...

 declared December 26 to be a day of national mourning.

Government reaction

On 27 December 2008 the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers ordered the central government agencies and the Yevpatoria administration to provide the victims of the blast and the families of those killed with new housing and all financial compensations they are entitled to by January 1, 2009. The Education and Science Ministry has been instructed to make sure that the children from the families who suffered from the incident be provided with free school instruction.

The government also ordered that tougher control measures be taken in the gas supply industry to prevent new accidents.

Gas explosions trend

A similar gas explosion in Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk

Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...

 on October 2007, killed 23 victims.

Gas explosions in often crumbling apartment buildings often caused by improper use or a poorly maintained infrastructure are common occurrences in former Soviet states, particularly in the winter, when residents use more heating.