Gas explosion in Belgium, now 18 dead

Belgium's king led the nation Saturday in mourning the victims of a pipeline explosion that killed 16 and injured 120 in one of the country's worst industrial accidents.

Flags flew at half-staff across the country as King Albert II visited the blast site and a nearby town to console victims' families and pay tribute to rescue workers.

Authorities raised the death toll Saturday from 15 to 16 after confirming that an employee of a factory next to the blast site had died overnight in a hospital from severe burns.

Around 30 people remained in serious condition, and three including a police officer were missing, officials said.

The massive explosion occurred early Friday morning in an industrial area just outside the village of Ghislenghien, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Brussels. It came after construction workers alerted firefighters they had damaged the underground gas line.

Many of the injured suffered severe burns and were being treated at special burn units in Belgium and in the nearby city of Lille, France and in Paris.

Officials said four burn victims were on life support in a coma at a military hospital in Neder-Over-Heembeek, a suburb of Brussels. Another two were fighting for their lives at an Antwerp hospital.

Meanwhile medical experts continued their work on identifying the dead at a morgue set up in a local school in Ath.

Guy Meulemans, director of human resources at Diamant Boart, a company which makes diamond cutters for industrial use, said his company was told by rescue officials that a fourth employee died.

Of their 22 employees, 13 were injured, of them five critically.

King Albert, who cut short his vacation to Spain, was spending the day in Ath consoling families of victims and paying tribute to rescue workers and five firefighters who lost their lives in the blast.

Flags were flying half mast at the town hall and across the town. Government buildings across Belgium also lowered their flags.

Albert met for half an hour with families of victims behind closed doors at the town hall.