Three charged over UK shop blast

Three of the five people who died were members of the same family

epa06566821 Members of the emergency services at the scene of an explosion at Hinckley Road  Leicester, East Midlands, Britain, 26 February 2018. It has been reported five people were killed and five others were injured after an explosion destroyed a three-storey building in are residential street Leicester.  EPA/WILL OLIVER
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Three men have been charged with manslaughter and arson over an explosion in central England last weekend that killed five people.

Three members of the same family died after the three-storey building containing a supermarket and flats collapsed last Sunday in Leicester.

The three men accused of manslaughter, Arkan Ali, 37, Hawkar Hassan, 32, and Aram Kurd, 33, are due to appear in court on Monday.

Police have not publicly identified the cause of the blast and have declined to comment on media reports that the explosion may have been linked to an illegal alcohol distillery. Five Lithuanian men died in such a blast in eastern England in 2011.

Four of the people killed in the blast have been named as Shane, 18, and Sean Rajoobeer, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who is thought to have been working in the shop. The fifth victim is believed to be Shane and Sean's 46-year-old mother Mary.