Prosecutors with the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Bucharest Court of Appeal have charged Distrigaz with negligent destruction, after the company failed to send an intervention team to the Rahova block in order to take emergency measures following residents' reports of a gas smell and did not maintain the gas distribution system safely.

Three people - one Distrigaz employee and two employees of Amproperty Construct SRL from Bucharest - have been detained in this case by prosecutors on charges of negligent destruction, with a magistrate set to decide whether preventive detention is necessary.

Moreover, the investigators have also launched criminal proceedings against the two companies for negligent destruction, which resulted in a disaster.

In the case of Amproperty Construct SRL, a company authorised by the National Energy Regulatory Authority (ANRE) to carry out natural gas installation works, prosecutors have requested in court a 60-day ban on conducting activities of the nature of those in connection with which the offence was committed.

'From the investigations conducted so far, it has been established in essence that, between 16 and 17 October 2025, by violating legal provisions or work instructions, both the suspect legal entities and the accused individuals, through negligence, failed to properly fulfill their legal or official duties regarding the identification of the type of defect in the natural gas supply system of the building in Bucharest, Vicina Street, District 5, this resulting in the accumulation of gas in the building and the explosion on 17 October 2025 at 09:08, which caused the death of three people, bodily injuries to 15 others, the destruction or rendering unusable of 54 apartments, as well as the destruction or damage of 30 cars,' the Prosecutor's Office announced in a press release.

The prosecutors also explain the charges against Distrigaz.

'It has been established that the natural gas distribution operator, despite being called out on four occasions for emergency interventions at the property on Vicina Street, between 16 October 2025 at 07:08 and 17 October 2025 at 08:44, failed to properly fulfill its legal obligation to maintain the gas distribution system safely, as it did not identify the type of fault in the building's gas supply system, did not send an emergency response team to take the necessary urgent measures in the event of a gas leak in a property and failed to ensure prompt handling of telephone reports on the morning of 17 October 2025,' the Prosecutor's Office said.

As part of the investigation, eight searches were carried out on Wednesday - at the headquarters of Distrigaz and Amproperty Construct SRL, as well as at the homes of six individuals - with a number of records, documents and storage devices seized which will be used as evidence during the criminal proceedings. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Eusebi Manolache; EN - writing by: Rodica State)