Five die in gas explosion in Slovakia: Police

At least five people died in a gas explosion that rocked a high-rise apartment building in eastern Slovakia on Friday, police and firefighters said.

"The blast followed by a fire affected four or five floors" of the 12-storey building, firefighters told local media, adding that the building was in danger of collapsing.

The blast in the eastern Slovak town of Presov, 410 kilometres (254 miles) from the capital Bratislava, took place around mid-day Friday.

Firefighters were evacuating a unknown number of people from the building, local police said in a post on their official Facebook page.