Distrigaz, contractor and four employees indicted over deadly explosion in Bucharest’s Rahova neighborhood
The prosecutors allege that failures to locate and isolate a gas leak allowed methane to accumulate before the October 2025 blast that killed four people.
Irina Marica · Journalist
· 3 min read
Romanian prosecutors have indicted gas distributor Distrigaz Sud Rețele, contractor Amproperty Construct, and four of their employees over the deadly explosion at an apartment building in Bucharest’s Rahova district, Agerpres reported. All six defendants face charges of negligent destruction resulting in a disaster.
The explosion occurred on October 17, 2025, at an apartment building in Sector 5. Four people were killed and eight injured, while all 54 apartments in the affected section became unusable. Another 96 apartments in neighboring sections were damaged, along with 45 vehicles.
According to the Bucharest Court of Appeal Prosecutor’s Office, the defendants failed in separate ways to take the measures required to identify the problem, locate and isolate the source of the leak, and prevent gas from migrating into the building.
“In all six cases, the outcome resulted from the failure to fulfill intervention and safety obligations, allowing the dangerous situation to persist until the explosion occurred,” prosecutors said.
The defendants include two Distrigaz emergency intervention agents and two installers employed by Amproperty Construct. The latter company was authorized by energy regulator ANRE to inspect and service natural gas installations.
Three of the individual defendants were initially placed in pretrial detention but were later released under judicial supervision.
The gas allegedly entered through underground infrastructure
The investigators concluded that electrical and thermal effects from faults in underground power cables heated and perforated the polyethylene gas pipe supplying the building at two points on October 16.
The gas released into the soil allegedly entered an underground heating channel and migrated toward the basement. It then traveled vertically through the elevator shaft and other technical openings, accumulating particularly on the upper floors.
The explosive gas-air mixture ignited in the morning on October 17 on the fifth and sixth floors. The prosecutors said the explosion began in a fifth-floor apartment and that its most probable ignition source was a spark generated when an electrical switch was used.
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