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.
“Stopping the gas supply to the building’s internal installation did not stop the leak because its source was upstream, in the damaged underground distribution pipe,” the prosecutors explained.
Distrigaz was reportedly notified seven times about the smell of gas at the two neighboring apartment buildings between the morning of October 16 and the explosion the following morning, according to the investigators cited by Agerpres.
The prosecutors alleged that its emergency service failed to deploy the resources necessary to locate and secure the fault, closed incidents without verifiable technical justification, and left the area before identifying the source and completely removing the gas.
They also claimed that successive reports from the same area were not assessed together, even though the smell returned after the buildings’ gas supplies had been stopped and sealed.
One Distrigaz agent allegedly conducted incomplete checks and left without examining the basement or adequately inspecting the distribution network. The second intervened twice at the neighboring building but allegedly failed to expand the investigation after methane was detected and the smell returned.
“A complete inspection at building 33 could have led to the identification and isolation of the same source,” prosecutors said. “Approximately seven and a half hours remained after the second intervention, during which the necessary measures could have been taken, including evacuating residents.”
Assets seized to cover potential damages
A total of 297 individuals and legal entities have joined the case as civil parties.
The prosecutors ordered the seizure of assets belonging to the defendants up to EUR 68.09 million and RON 6.55 million, representing the updated estimated damage. The measures include Distrigaz’s headquarters, consisting of a 15,306 sqm plot and nine buildings, Agerpres reported.
The estimated value of the assets effectively seized exceeds EUR 68 million.
Distrigaz said it had taken note of the prosecutors’ decision and would exercise all its legal rights, according to Euronews Romania. The company expressed compassion for the victims’ families and others affected by the explosion but declined to comment further on the substance of the case.
The case was sent to the Bucharest Sector 5 District Court. The indictment does not amount to a finding of guilt.
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