Madrid: A powerful explosion hit a residential building in the Spanish city of Badajoz which left at least one person dead and injured at least 16 more, media reported on Thursday.

The facade of the apartment building was completely destroyed, and a fire broke out immediately after the explosion, the ABC Espana newspaper reported.

The Spanish police and firefighters managed to enter the building, where they found a man's body in the bathroom, who was believed to be a building resident, the report said.

Eyewitnesses told the newspaper that a gas leak was a possible cause of the incident, adding that they called a fire department because they suspected a gas leak. The explosion occurred the moment a fire brigade arrived, the newspaper reported.

(With UNI inputs)