Death toll from Armenia shopping centre blast reaches 16

Yerevan, Aug 16 The number of people who died after a blast at a shopping mall outside the Armenian capital of Yerevan has increased to 16, the country's civil defence agency said on Tuesday.

Rescue workers pulled more bodies out of the rubble of the collapsed buildings and a pregnant woman and a child were among the dead, dpa news agency reported citing officials as saying.

Emergency crews are still looking for those who are missing.

Many people are still receiving hospital treatment after the blast which left more than 60 people injured, many of them children.

According to the latest investigations, the blast occurred when a warehouse where fireworks were stored blew up at the wholesale site, triggering an explosion of a gas pipeline.

The three-storey building collapsed.

The massive blast generated huge clouds of smoke and several buildings collapsed, triggering panic.

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