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(CNN) -- Hundreds of emergency workers combed the site of a five-story apartment building in southern Ukraine Thursday after a series of explosions reduced it to rubble, authorities said.
A rescue worker cuts through the rubble of the apartment building Thursday.
The blasts Wednesday night in the Black Sea resort town of Yevpatoria left at least 17 people are dead and 24 others missing, according to Igor Krol, a spokesman for the Ukraine's Emergency Situations Ministry.
Twenty-one people have been rescued. "We are now investigating all possible reasons for the explosions," Krol said.
Volodymiyr Shandra, the Ukrainian Emergency Situations minister, told local media that oxygen canisters being stored in the basement of the building could have triggered the blasts.
Television footage showed rescuers trying to free people buried underneath fallen debris, while others scrabbled through wires, construction rods and boulders.
"As I was walking by, I heard a bang, and then I saw this building crumble," one eyewitness was quoted by Reuters.com as saying.
Another, who lived opposite the apartment block, told the news agency: "We heard a terrible bang. We though our balcony crashed because of the way the windows vibrated. But when I went onto the balcony I saw smoke from the other side."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko set aside their feuding to visit the town together. According to Reuters.com, Yushchenko declared Friday a national day of mourning, while Tymoshenko promised families of the dead compensation and said they would be rehoused by the end of the year.
CNN's Max Tkachenko contributed to this story.
All About Ukraine • Viktor Yushchenko
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